Coming Apart - The State of White America 1960-2010 (Charles Murray, 2012)

This book received lots of attention when it came out.

The author sifts through lots of data (such as it is) and provides a pretty compelling discussion about the separation of "white America" into two significant classes between 1960 and 2010. There was of course always an upper class - but it is interesting to consider how small that group was c. 1960 (and prior), and how similar everyone else was.  The modern upper class, to use that term, is much larger and has segregated itself into neighborhoods; its members are educated, knowledge workers, government workers, professionals, etc.

None of that would come as much of a surprise to anyone.

The part of the book that generated controversy is the discussion of how the lower class is increasingly afflicted by destructive behaviors that look very different from America's founding virtues - while the upper class tends to have a much higher retention of traditional values.

I think this is behavior that we all can pretty much see with our own eyes, but I think this book was new in being so forthright about the situation - in politically correct circles (including virtually the entire media), it is highly impolitic to speak of the poor outcomes for children born to single moms, to discuss the ridiculously high disability rates and reduced rates of men seeking work, etc..  So by calling this out, the book attracted lots of criticism from the left-liberal-progressive sphere.  Plus it's written by a white male with ties to the American Enterprise Institute - meaning attacks on the messenger rather than evaluation of the message   And yes, the data (much of it from surveys, so inherently non-definitive) used by the author is of course open to criticism and interpretation - but directionally, the message is worth taking seriously.

Murray reviews how America was founded on four principal virtues:  industriousness, honesty, marriage and religiosity.  (One can debate the specifics of the list, but something along these lines is at least roughly correct.)  He discusses how those virtues have for the most part disappeared among the lower classes (and weakened among the upper, though appearing to be stabilizing).

Interesting discussion based around excerpts from writings by the founding fathers and the amazingly perceptive de Tocqueville . . . that the U.S. didn't need a lot of laws or a detailed Constitution because its people were so tied into the four virtues . . . and that the system devised in the 18th century wouldn't work absent those virtues.  Looking at how poorly the system functions these days, one is inclined to agree.

Murray ends up sounding a positive note - he thinks things will get better, in part because they are so obviously unsustainable in current form (see quote below).

I don't think I agree with his outlook.  Quite likely the four founding virtues were out of date in various respects and required some significant tweaking - but we have moved so far away from them that I don't think we will be coming back.  Just look at two examples from the recent election results - 2012 presidential race, 2012 California state results - dependency and victimhood (a/k/a pitting group against group) are increasingly our country's new virtues.  The more sober virtues are very difficult to build and maintain - they are the exception.  They have seldom been duplicated anywhere in the world throughout history, as far as I know.  So America changes, and I don't think for the better.  (Though that doesn't change the fact, if one can so call it, that we still have lots of advantages over the rest of the world.)

By the way:  the book focuses on white America.  But the author states (and I guess there is some survey data) that the principles apply across the races.

A quote indicating optimism of the author (I agree with the sentiment but don't see reversal of the trend):  ". . . sooner or later, at some budgetary figure, the amount of money we are spending to achieve easily achievable goals will eventually persuade everyone that using armies of bureaucrats to take trillions of dollars, spend a lot of it on themselves, give back a lot of it to people who don't need it, and dole out what remains with all sorts of regulations and favoritism is not reasonable or necessary.  Wealthy nations can accomplish the core goal of the advanced welfare state - the economic wherewithal for people to provide for their basic needs - without the apparatus of the welfare state."

Saladin (Anne-Marie Edde, 2008 (this translation 2011))

Lots of detail here, and I moved through it pretty quickly.  Other than lots of information about Saladin, I'm not sure it added a lot to the list of books that appears here.

Saladin is most famous for retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187.  He was a Kurd that had great battlefield success and translated this into great political success from a power base in Egypt - united (if briefly (and half-heartedly at best for many groups)), disparate Islamic factions and thus could beat the Crusader states at a time when they were in some disarray.  Did not establish an enduring succession.  Not of royal family.

Interactions with Richard the Lionhearted and others brought him into popular literature in the West.

Among other things, the book  reinforces how long the disputes between Shiite and Sunni have been going on.

Saladin as probably very sincerely religious, certainly very aware of how to use this in politics.  Author discussed jihad (and heaven-via-death-in-battle) as she thought it worked in 12th century - probably not much different than now (most pay lip service, a few suckers/fanatics volunteer, most demur).

Interesting discussion of siege tactics in a pre-gunpowder era; they were able to chuck pretty large objects over walls from distance (and return fire from within the walls).

Saladin wasn't mythologized in the East until the 19th century - because his line of succession didn't last, there wasn't much of a hagiography push even for the re-conqueror of Jerusalem.  Then co-opted as a figure for Islamic unity, and adopted by folks like Saddam Hussein.

The Trial (Franz Kafka, 1914-15 (published 1925))

One quickly sees how the adjective "Kafkaesque" came into usage.

Joseph K. is arrested and prosecuted by a shadowy court system.  He never learns the nature of the charges against him.

K. hires a lawyer, who doesn't seem to advance his case.  I like the scenes with K.'s practical uncle.  Also the scenes where K (a senior bank official) is competing with the vice president.  Also the opening scene (where he is arrested in bizarre fashion).

K. sees folks in the court system - those charged, minor court officials, clerks, etc.  But never gets a clue as to how things work, or even why he is in the system.

I see Kafka referred to as an incredibly important author for the 20th century, and I understand that this work (though unfinished, like all his works) is thought to be one of his best.  I like it; I also must be missing something because I don't quite get why it's considered so great.  Pretty clearly it's about modern bureaucracy, lack of accountability, lack of transparency?  I note that the book was written in 1914-1915 - before the emergence of the Soviet state.  (Though there had been plenty of repression in German lands over the years (Kafka being Czech)).

Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II (Matthew, Parker, 2004)

I've read a fair amount about this battle (have been interested in it from Irvin Bormann perspective in addition to general interest in World War II).  At first I wasn't feeling that this book added a lot - and I still prefer the discussion about the battle (and Italian campaign in general) in this book.  But the author's technique - heavy reliance on survivor interviews - became progressively more interesting or captivating as the book proceeded, and I ended up liking it quite a bit.

It reinforces the message that the Italian campaign was messed up in so many ways, that so many lives were thrown away in the way the attacks were staged, that so little was accomplished in terms of diverting Nazi resources etc.  It's hard to be too critical of the political and military leadership in such a difficult overall situation, but it makes the thought of the losses even more depressing.

The Germans were excellent, well-trained soldiers.  The Gustav Line was amazing.  Even Hannibal was smart enough not to try to attack up the Italian peninsula from the south.  The weather was appalling.

Got a better feel for the multi-national coalition involved (which of course made everything more difficult in terms of coordination, which turns out to be pretty important in these settings).

The title here seems overblown, but some of the battle descriptions make you wonder if other battles were much worse than Monte Cassino - it certainly had elements of World War I static slaughter, as well as Stalingrad house-to-house fighting.

I keep thinking politicians should be required to read books like this, and then re-read them once or twice more, before they ever commit soldiers to battle.

The Botany of Desire (A Plant's-Eye View of the World) (Michael Pollan, 2001)

Everyone knows that humans breed plants in various ways.  The author's premise here was to try to look at the interaction from the perspective of the plants (example = the way flowers lure bees into spreading their pollen).  It was an interesting book, but not because that premise worked particularly well.  (Maybe there's a deeper game going on that I realize, but I don't think plants are manipulating humans.)

He focused on four plants:

1.  Apple (sweetness) - lots of discussion about the importance of apples on the American frontier, including lots of discussion about John Chapman.  He notes that ol' Johnny Appleseed was growing apples trees from seed - meaning that the crop would be inedible, usable only to make cider - meaning hard cider in those days - the primary hooch available on the frontier.  Author claims that the apple industry tried to reposition the Chapman story as Prohibition loomed (at which time it also invented (marketing) phrases like "an apple a day keeps the doctor away").

2.  Tulip (beauty) - lots of discussion about the tulip mania (1634-37).  Not very interesting.

3.  Marijuana (intoxication) - he discusses how marijuana seems to operate on the brain - an intensification of the senses, an ability to focus on one thing deeply (if for a limited period).  He compares this to Huxley's discussion of mescaline (peyote) - which Huxley thought aided perception by essentially turning off the perception filters we use (and need) to function efficiently. Not sure what to make of this.

4.  Potato (control) - I love reading about the potato (such as in this book).  A plant from the Americas that transformed Europe.  He went through the Ireland experience - British (anti-Catholic) laws preventing Irish from accumulating land so they are restricted to small plots; soil and climate not conducive to grains; potato (with a little milk) as a 100% complete diet for people and their few livestock; potato works beautifully on the small plots; requires so little work to plant, harvest, prepare (contributes to view of Irish as lazy); population rises from 3 million to 8 million; they all plant the same variety; blight; population back to 3 million.  So that's interesting, but the author was more focused on genetic engineering, how potatoes are grown in Idaho, the risks of monoculture.

The Heart of the Matter (Graham Greene, 1948)

I liked this a lot in the beginning stages of the book, then felt it broke down toward the end - partly because I didn't think the reliance on Catholic doctrine of the period to create tension in the lead character (Scobie) was particularly effective.

Now I learn that Time magazine has this book in the top 100 English-language novels since 1923; the Modern Library ranked it 40th.  That surprises me.

Short, and definitely a good read - always held my attention.  I like Greene's writing - he sees us.

Scobie is an inspector in a West African country during WWII; his wife is unhappy; he pities her; borrows money from a Syrian smuggler to pay her passage out of the colony; inspects a suicide at an inland station; inspects a Portuguese ship and uncharacteristically doesn't bust its captain for a Germany-bound letter; Wilson keeps an eye on him (and on his wife); Scobie meets a survivor of a shipwreck and falls in love; further adventures follow.  Wilson shares lodgings with a veteran of the colony who amused himself by going after cockroaches.

I have no idea what life is like in one of these colonies but trust that Greene (who worked in one) did a great job describing it.

The German Genius - Europe's Third Renaissance, The Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century (Peter Watson, 2010)

I've had the good fortune to read quite a few truly excellent, helpful books in 2012 - but this one definitely is near or at the top of the list.

I keep trying to get a handle on Germany (see here, for example) - looking to catch up a bit after a reading list too heavily weighted toward U.S., England, France.  And when I think about what I've read about Germany - for the most part my list would confirm one of the points made by this author  - it's like we tend to think of Germany in terms of a 12-year slice (1933-1945) when the country was dominated by the Nazis.


The author notes this preoccupation without minimizing the Nazi era - after all, a 12-year run like this could not have occurred in a vacuum - big and complicated things led up to it.  So his approach is to put the Nazi era into the context of German intellectual history going back to the end of the J.S. Bach era (1750 or so), discuss how the ideas developed that - seasoned with (among so many other things) late unification as a country (1870) and World War I trauma - went wrong in the Nazi era, and suggest a fuller way of thinking about Germany going forward.

But still . . . I never do get tired of watching those movies from the 1930s and after that feature Nazi villains . . .

Anyway (and to repeat) - this book was extraordinarily useful, and I bought it immediately.  850 pages; I'll guesstimate I dog-eared 50-75 pages (a very high percentage.)

There's too much here to try to summarize . . . a few ideas:

-- The role of "Pietism" in the Germanic brand of Protestantism.

-- Emphasis on "Bildung"

-- Pietism and Bildung as key elements in inculcating a culture of self-improvement - the idea of a responsibility to use one's time wisely for the long-term good of the self and of society (I am happily afflicted by this notion)

-- Delayed unification as a country; Napoleon's intervention in early 19th century as permitting educational reforms to blossom in a way that would not have happened had the country been locked in structurally.

-- Widespread education was prized and effective at all levels - surprising charts showing the pervasiveness of education in Germany via schooling levels achieved by soldiers in various national armies.  This paid off, big time, in so many areas - a large reservoir of educated, motivated citizens from which to develop talent.

-- Conflicting strands:  state was tied up in education in a way that linked graduates to the state (compare France or Russia, where the students so often stood against the state).  But repression was strong . . . a tendency for scholars to look inward rather than take on the state critically ("internal exile" - a concept also heard in Russia and other repressive states)

-- Really incredible achievements in music, education, historical method, philosophers,all things scientific or technical; military successes post-unification.  Accomplishments way too numerous to start listing, Germany predominant in so many ways.

-- Late formation into a state made insecure and self-conscious; high achievements perhaps bred arrogance; belief in narrow national character when history really wouldn't support it - the Volk - this is twisted as demagogues see fit.  Some dangerous characters emerge, anti-Semitism; WWI defeat; emergence of the term "degenerate" and application to Jews.

-- Hitler running off highly talented but tainted (typically meaning Jewish) scientists . . . Allied quote to the effect that the Allies won WWII because "our (meaning those working for the Allies) German scientists were better than their German scientists"

-- Discussion of the denial of knowledge/complicity toward Nazi state that prevailed after the war - but how else could the country move forward?  Subsequent generations start to address, criticize.  A platform from which to move forward.

Paintings in Proust (Eric Karpeles, 2008)

I've been thinking about Proust's signature book lately - maybe attaching too much significance?  But I'm pretty sure it's quite important.  (Previous discussions of the book are here and here.)  (One reason I'm thinking about the book is that during our recent and most enjoyable visit to Portland, I found a basically untouched used set at "Powell's World of Books" - nice to own it, finally.)

Proust helps me see differently.  Other authors have this effect, but not as strongly.

I have no idea how to distill his essential messages, if there are any.  But somehow he applies a combination of open-mindedness and studied preparation to see people, objects in art or nature (sublime or otherwise), everyday objects - with far more depth than most of us do.  We miss so much.

As I get older, I can better see that the "studied preparation" part is crucial.  Being open-minded and receptive is just a threshold - if you don't bring anything of depth to the process of perceiving, you cannot see or appreciate nearly as much.  Seems obvious, right?  ("Studied preparation" - not sure exactly what this involves - but at a minimum it would be steady exposure to sophisticated literature, art, music.)

Proust wrote "Imagine today a writer to whom the idea would occur to treat twenty times under different lights the same theme, and who would have the sensation of creating something profound, subtle, powerful, overwhelming, original, startling like the fifty cathedrals or forty water-lily ponds of Monet." That's how he writes; that's how to see.  (Also an example of how he saw painting and literature as similar arts.)

Technology brings valuable exposure to us, but (as has been lamented for a couple hundred years now) makes it more difficult to find (or, more accurately, to choose to find) the time, quiet, and/or serendipity to generate useful, original, thought or in-depth perception.  We exchange this possibility for a diet of spoon-fed mediocrity, while stalwartly rationalizing the sad trade-off via absurd assertions that a person can focus on multiple distractions at the same time without affecting cognition, depth of thought or receptivity to sensations and ideas.  Oh well.

I bought the version at left Sept 2012 - at Powell's, Portland OR.

The premise of this book:  Proust wove dozens of references to art works throughout the novel, along with lengthy passages dealing with the fictional painter, Elstir.  Karpeles had a fine idea - he went through all ~3300 pages and came up with a list of art references, then included reproductions in this book along with text excerpts from the passage in which the art reference appeared.  (Heavy stock paper, nice quality reproductions.)  This approach really works, on at least three levels:

1.  Enjoying the art even if you didn't read or are one of those who don't particularly like Remembrance of Things Past.

2.  Providing a memory refresh on the novel independent of the art references - which is valuable, it is not easy to hang onto the story line given its length and complexity.

3.  Reflecting on the way Proust used art to illustrate points in the novel; perhaps picking up the ability to do the same; the irreplaceable way in which art can accomplish this.

Odette as a figure from a Botticelli painting.  I like so many of the paintings . . . perhaps especially The Mother (Pieter de Hooch) (see the part toward the back where the small child looks out the door); and Portrait of an Old Man and a Young Boy (Domenico Ghirlandaio) (from the Louvre).

Delightful, valuable.  Will buy it.

Catherine the Great - Portrait of a Woman (Robert K. Massie, 2011)

This was interesting and a quick read, but I didn't like it as much as this book by Massie, and certainly not as much as Massie's Peter the Great and Nicholas and Alexandra.

Peter the Great rules 1682 through 1725; Elizabeth 1741 through 1762; Catherine from 1762 through 1796.

Frederick the Great rules 1740 - 1786.  Followed by three Frederick Williams; then Wilhelm I (in power at time of Bismark's unification).  (Wilhelm II rules 1888 - 1918 (his father died after about 90 days as king).)

The value here was in getting a better fix on where Catherine fits in.  The annoyance was all the gossipy content - it was mostly a distraction though I suppose it would help understand some of her behavior; I guess this is how you drive bestseller status in a biography.  Whatever.

I can see where she would be regarded as one of the most important empress/queen types, alongside Elizabeth I.

Thoughts:

1.  Not terribly remarkable that minor nobility from a minor Prussian state would become betrothed to Russia's emperor-to-be.  Very remarkable how she took the position and ran with it, to say the least.

2.  Peter III was a pretty weird guy - obsessed with Frederick the Great and Prussia, tone deaf to Russia.  Catherine basically taking his throne via coup, with widespread military support.

3.  Unfortunate and very convenient that he - and the other potential contestant for the throne (Ivan) - died in captivity.  (Catherine not particularly hurt by the suspicions as to her role.)

4.  Empress Elizabeth brought Catherine to Russia and promoted her marriage to Peter III.

5.  Potemkin (yes, of the village fame) and his important role.  Peter the Great pointing Russia westward and obtaining Baltic access; Catherine continuing this, getting Black Sea access.

6.  Catherine and the three partitions of Poland - this is where Poland essentially disappeared in late 18th century, not to reappear until after World War I.  (Which reappearance turned out to be quite temporary.)

7.  Ruled for decades, died in 1796.

8.  Pretty much self-educated; initial attraction to the ideals of the philosophes; spent lots of time with Diderot; constant correspondence with Voltaire; tried to refashion Russian law; ended up deciding that strict authoritarianism was the way to go.

9.  Horrified by French Revolution; this contributed to authoritarianism (though she had settled on that path far earlier); this also provided some slight rationale for the dismemberment of Poland.

10.  The author really seemed to promote Catherine - who no doubt was important and talented - but focuses very much on her generosity, her wisdom in purchasing art works and building palaces, etc. - without ever asking where the money was coming from and what that all meant.

A Natural History of the Piano - from Mozart to Modern Jazz and Everything in Between (Stuart Isacoff, 2011)

Quick read, useful.

I had never really thought about the history of the "piano" other than some very interesting discussion in this biography.  Even basic stuff like:  when did a reasonably modern version of the instrument become available?  how did concerts in concert halls get started?  etc.

The author goes back to the amazing-ness of Bach, including a focus on this very interesting story.

Mozart - primitive touring, good enough to try to survive without patronage of nobles; playing as an "independent" in essentially taverns; a tough go.

As discussed in this interesting book - how the piano became sufficiently developed to fill a large concert hall; Lizst among the very first to utilize this.  He was a true rock star, to use modern (if already dated - do rock stars still walk the earth?) terminology.

Interesting story about Mendelssohn - how Wagner tried to bury him based on anti-Semitism; how Mendelssohn had conducted the St. Matthew Passion for the first time since Bach's death in 1750.

Plenty of other anecdotes about Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Satie, many others.  Emphasis on the leadership of the Germans.

Mass marketing - particularly aimed at women - amazing success in planting pianos in private homes.  Like the one I grew up in.

Not a great book, but helps round out the picture on the development here.

Doctor Faustus - The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn as Told by a Friend (Thomas Mann, 1947)

Not sure what I felt like after reading this.  I think it was extraordinary.  I think I like Thomas Mann an awful lot, at least based on this book, and also on this book.  I don't know much about Mann, what critics think, etc.  Maybe it's better that way.

This was an adaptation of the famous Faust tale; a story long prominent among Germans, particularly in relation to this work by Goethe.

It reminded me of The Magic Mountain in many respects - long discussions among characters, long book, long sequences with little or minor action - yet compelling throughout.

A "friend" of a famous (fictional, of course) German composer - Adrian Leverkuhn - is writing Leverkuhn's story.  Leverkuhn makes a Faustian bargain so as to be able to compose wondrous musical works.  Or does he?

Mann goes into long discussions of the nature of music and composition throughout the book - this was highly interesting to me - being long close to classical music, yet almost entirely ignorant on theory and composition.  An example:  Mann does this effectively through the character of Leverkuhn's teacher in Eisersachern - the lectures, the individual discussions - intrinsically interesting separate from the story.  Lots of references to Beethoven's 9th - the Ode to Joy, including chorus - a note of hope after all the turmoil in Beethoven's earlier works - how Leverkuhn's final composition is a sort of answer to the turn taken in Beethoven's 9th.  This element of the book was very thought-provoking, if not always directly pertaining to the plot line.

Leverkuhn studied theology before turning to music . . . interesting discussion by a theology department professor about good and evil - how a complete world needs both - how freedom granted by God would mean living in compliance - so would not a truer use of one's God-gifted freedom be noncompliance?  Or what?  This is all part of the set-up for the Faustian bargain.  If there was one.

Theology, demonology, music.

Leverkuhn 's friend is writing the story over a course of years during WWII . . . regularly updating on the course of events in WWII; these run in parallel with elements of the underlying story, which took place in the years surrounding WWI.

And of course there is political allegory here - Germany as making a Faustian bargain with Hitler - I rather expected this to be the extent of the book, but there is far more going on.

Interesting political discussion among the narrator and some acquaintances in the Nazi years - consensus forming that truth can, and should, be sacrificed to the community's needs - it's a longish discussion that I'm not capturing here, but resonated in a troublesome way with the orthodoxy/political correctness prevalent in the US these days.  Don't be too truthful, it might be uncomfortable.  The myth of the community.

Leverkuhn's musical breakthrough is modeled on Schoenberg's 12-tone work (which I know nothing about).

This was very good.  I need to spend more time with it.

Velazquez and The Surrender of Breda (Anthony Bailey, 2011)

There's just something about these newspaper and magazine writers that turn to writing books - they aren't as good at it.  Not sure how to explain, it's like they try too hard.

This was interesting, but not as much as I would have expected based on the review I had seen.  Part of the problem is that Velazquez - for all his talent and wide recognition - didn't leave much behind in terms of primary sources.  The author has quite a bit of information about what Velazquez was doing at different points in his life, but cannot really bring the biography to life because he is just guessing so much of the time.

Useful ideas:

1.  Helps connect ideas about a wealthy Spain - less than a century after Columbus showed up in the Americas - with ~20 years less since the days of Martin Luther - struggling to keep control of Protestant Netherlands.  Charles V gives up, replaced by Philip II.  Bloody, unnecessary, protracted struggle.  Gave rise to the titular picture.

2.  Velazquez talent identified early; he advances to court in Madrid and is favored with royal commissions thereafter.  Loved to travel to Italy.  Took on lots of administrative tasks.  Reminded me of the stories of Bach as more or less an employee, or of Goethe taking on governing tasks in Weimar. The idea of the artist as romantic/independent/superior hadn't arrived.

3.  The famous Las Meninas - pictures in pictures.  Parents visible in mirror, watching the scene being painted by the artist . . . who is watching them . . . etc.

4.  Spain continuing to hurt itself with expulsions of Jews and "Moors".  Closed, insular, Church-dominated.

5.  Velazquez not dominant in commercial art market because his works simply don't come to market.  But considered to be highly favored.  Proust has the Duc de Guermantes buying a painting that he hopes is a Valazquez; Swann doesn't support this.

Las Meninas

Song Without Words - The Photographs & Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy (Leah Bendavid-Val, 2007)

This was very interesting and worthwhile, a great follow-on to books reachable by clicking here, to this valuable biography, and also to this quite entertaining movie.

It's pretty clear that Sophia Tolstoy was a pretty amazing person in her own right.

The author became aware that photos and diaries were available but not pulled together thematically or otherwise made readily accessible.  Thus the idea for the book.

Among the photos taken by Ms. Tolstoy:  many photos of Tolstoy - part of her goal of preserving his legacy.  Also numerous self-portraits and portraits of the children and grandchildren.  I particularly liked the peasant scenes around the Yasnaya Polyana estate.  This was in the very early days of photography, and even the description of the techniques and technology was interesting to me.

The diary excerpts were interesting and frank.

I liked this on quite a few levels.  Tolstoy (at least early Tolstoy, but even some of his later works) is a delightful author.  He and Sophia had quite the relationship (some of which, in the earlier stages, is a model for Anna Karenina passages).  The Russian history part is interesting.  It helps fill out one's picture of Tolstoy.

And as discussed elsewhere, it would be interesting to see if Tolstoy would have gone through the whole "Tolstoyan" schtick if he didn't know that Sophia was behind him making sure that the business side of his life was being taken care of.

Paris to the Past - Traveling Through French History by Train (Ina Caro, 2011)

I read through the entire book (parts of it, quite quickly).  I think it's valuable as a resource when planning a trip to Paris - it doesn't very work well to just read through it.

Saw a couple reviews, and the book looked interesting to me because we were planning a trip to Paris.  And I very much liked the idea of incorporating day trips by train.

But the book isn't really a travel book, and isn't really a history - though it attempts to be both.

That being said, I definitely could see it as something one would purchase in e-book form and use while in Paris.

The author is married to a famous biographer (Robert Caro); his biography of LBJ has been on my list for awhile.  She had a very annoying habit of constantly referring to whatever "Bob" was doing or thinking instead of just writing about whatever.

The Art of the Sale - Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life (Philip Delves Broughton, 2012)

I have a pretty firm rule against reading business books.  I broke it for this book.  The rule is reinstated.

I don't know exactly why business books are so useless; I do think this author had some useful insights about  it.

I was willing to give this one a chance because it's about sales - crucial to everyone in business, not to mention life-in-general.  But the author just went around interviewing a variety of superstar salespersons.  That's not helpful.

There were some funny passages about Apple's approach - how they deliberately set out to make customers into evangelists.  And clearly they have figured out how to do this - lots of unpaid Apple promoters out there.  "Once part of Apple's tribe, devotees tend to exhibit the zeal of converts, displaying a sense of superiority and a willingness to sing Apple's praises to the heathen.  The tribe aren't just using a different smartphone or tablet, they are living a better life."  "Its selling methods successfully erode its customers' will to do the very thing that as a company it claims to do best:  think different."

Not recommended.

God and Gold - Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World (Walter Russell Mead, 2007)

The title of the book seems to be a curious choice - wouldn't the first four nouns (God, Gold, Britain, America) be considered four of the most un-cool words in a modernist vocabulary?  Doesn't the title suggest the book will be just another triumphalist exercise by some out-of-fashion West-centric writer?

I was willing to give it a try because I'm familiar with the author via his blog - something I've added to my daily reading list (a list that I try to guard jealously) as of a couple months ago.  I don't know exactly where the author fits on the ideological spectrum, which I take to be a good sign.

In any event:  this book was full of good ideas - very much worthwhile - provides a valuable historical framework for thinking about the modern world.  To be sure, he describes the ascendancy of what he calls the maritime states, but (at least to this citizen of the current leading maritime state) it's done in the manner of reporting historical trends with eyes wide open to the shortcomings as well as achievements.

The most interesting idea (to me at least - see the list below, there are plenty of others) was the notion that societies tend to have three primary drivers, and that successful societies (exhibit A being Britain) find a way to balance them.  The three drivers are Reason, Revelation and Tradition.  I think this is important and useful.  The triad appears in various societies in different ways.  Tradition - countries like Spain and France went on for many centuries with state-institutional Church dominating life.  Proponents are religious, but power players.  Also includes populist nationalism.  Revelation - religious folks who want to get back to the religion's true roots - opposing the traditional power structure - Lutherans, Puritans, evangelical Christians, Pentecostals, Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia, Al-Quaeda, etc.  We can see what happens in states where those folks get too much power.  Reason - central planners; folks who reject religion and believe society can function by experts; "Great Society" where all goes well via government fiat - this, too, has been proven inadequate.  England - during the years it was the predominant maritime state - found a way to balance these three elements.  Kept a monarchy in place but took away its power.  Church of England - practical, didn't claim a monopoly on religious truth.  Etc.

Other ideas:

1.  Religion has mattered a great deal to peoples all over the world for millenia.  To minimze or ignore this in interpreting history or looking to the future is a mistake - something we fall into because so many folks in the West, especially in the punditocracy, are (or profess to be) beyond it in the 21st century.  Even non-religious folks often think in religious terms, if unwittingly.

2.  The Dutch, English and Americans, in that order, have been the leading players he in what he calls the "maritime system".  That it wasn't set in stone that this progression would occur, esp in the early going for Dutch and English.  (In fact, the era of Dutch predominance was pretty short.)

3.  Land-based empires are forced to deal with quarrelsome neighbors, get caught up in frightful fights over terrain not crucial to the big picture.  This hurt the Netherlands (based in mainland Europe).  Obvious examples would include Russia and Germany wrecking each other over Poland, Ukraine, etc.; France and Germany wrecking each other over Alsace, Lorraine, etc.  England and in turn the US able to play the global whole - far more effective.

4.  Looks to the Glorious Revolution (1688) as the key event for England.  William of Orange arrives from Netherlands.  Protestants hold sway thereafter notwithstanding continuing struggles to restore Stuarts or whoever (often financed from abroad in an effort to destabilize England).

5.  Interesting discussion about national debt - how England reached its heights while constantly incurring debt beyond what was dreamed to be sustainable.

6.  One of the fundamental sources of conflict:  capitalism isn't for everybody (certainly not at first blush); yet nations are inevitably left behind if they don't play the game.  Forced into something they may not want, resentful of those on top of the system that does the forcing.

7.  Wars of religion - primarily a phenomenon among the three Abrahamic religions (Jews, Muslims, Christians).  Not surprisingly, conflict results when you claim that only your religion is based on revealed truth - doesn't leave much room for compromise!

8.  Secular modernism as a fourth major religion.  Yes, it does function as such.

9.  I've always felt that Adam Smith was right because the concept of "original sin" is right (however one wishes to phrase it).  Individuals are flawed, if for no other reason than we cannot possibly avoid over-emphasizing our own importance.  And we act accordingly.

10.  Therefore Plato's "benevolent dictator" cannot exist - in any form.  We are better off with decentralized power and decision-making - the "invisible hand" may not be infallible but the idea is far more than a pretty phrase.  And it certainly operates far better than central planning, as has been demonstrated over and over.

11.  "The greatest wealth of countries like the United States and Great Britain is not their mineral deposits or their agricultural land.  It is not the money that they have in the bank.  It is the mentality and habits of the nation at large.  These are peoples accustomed to governing themselves, accustomed to promoting enterprise, ready to join in spontaneous and private activities of all kinds - but also accustomed to an ordered liberty whose roots now are many centuries old.  This human and social capital is by far the most valuable to have - and by far the hardest to get."

12.  #11 is critically important.  Compare how most other countries function.  Yet it is not an eternal, immutable situation.  The modern welfare state - yes, including Obama - destroys this ethos - a straightforward example of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov, written in 1930s, published 1966-67)

Similar to this novel in two ways:  translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; gift from PJr and Nedda (this was for Father's Day).

The devil and his devilishly delightful retinue visit Moscow in Stalin-era 1930s.  The novel incorporates two intertwined stories (i) the devil's doings in Moscow; and (ii) a version of the Pontius Pilate story that is readily recognizable, but different from the version in the gospels.

The book was way too hot to be printed in the author's lifetime - he died in 1940, his wife (Margarita supposedly based on her) held together the manuscript and had it printed in the west in the 1960s.  After samizdat versions had circulated (reminded me of descriptions of circulated literature in this book).  So it had a publishing history not unlike works such as this one and or this one; just remarkable to think what life was like for these writers in Soviet-era Russia.  Esp. in 1930s.  Too hot to be printed because of the spot-on descriptions of issues under the Soviet system

Just delightful, though I now need to learn more about what Bulgakov was doing - pretty sure I missed lots of what was going on.  His use of language, literary allusions, writing style - all great (at least insofar as we can tell through lens of translation).  Much enjoyed reading the entire book.  Unexpectedly found the Pilate portions every bit as compelling, if not moreso, than the main tale.

"The Master" was writing a Pilate novel as part of the main plot - his work is rejected by the literary bureaucrats.  Faithful Margarita - willing to go a long way to support the Master.  Various officials at The Variety - bad consequences from the black magic seance.  Foreign currency; foreign currency store (foreigners only!).  The cat (Behemoth) - always entertaining, loves the primus stove (a cooking device mentioned often in this book).  Koroviev; Azazello.  It all started with Ivan and Berlioz showing off their atheist bonafides to Woland - and Berlioz being unceremoniously beheaded shortly thereafter in an unrelated, I think, incident.

Pilate and his secret police force; his subtle way of approaching the Judas Iscariot issue; KGB (or its predecessor) would have been proud.

Numerous echos of this book, naturally enough - very helpful to have read it.  (At the gym, I'm currently in the middle of Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus, which will fit in quite nicely with all this.)

LACMA (August 5, 2012)

As mentioned in this post, EPG took us to LA County Museum of Art on Sunday, August 5.

After the visit, we were discussing LACMA in comparison to the Getty (where EPG took us last year).  Both are wonderful places, to be sure.  The Getty grounds are more impressive, for whatever that's worth.  We probably prefer Getty, would gladly revisit both.

I thought the German expressionism - if that's the right term, I don't really know - was the most interesting exhibit of our 8/5/12 visit.  Really ties into WWI and inter-war stuff I've been reading.  How a wrecked country looked for some answers, or something - they faced a level of change that is unimaginable.

Click any image to enlarge all.  (And how about this look at LACMA?)

First item - caption immediately beneath it - self-explanatory.  Done by some poor guy that lived through the eastern front.

Second item - communist party - a serious contender for influence in Germany during these days (and elsewhere in the world, including the US).  Rosa Luxemburg.  Description beneath is useful.

Third item - the "Orator" - 1920 - eerie precursor to Hitler, one might say in hindsight - desperate people prone to falling for someone who appears to lead them out of the abyss.

Fourth item - just read the below description - this is detail from a large work - since it's from the French Revolution, it was interesting to me.

Item 5 - this looked great in the gallery, especially the sand.

Item 6 - they had some pop/folk contemporary work from Iran.  We were leaving so I didn't get a chance to figure out what this is supposed to be

And then there's the previously posted "Madonna with Child, Times Two".  Best in show.

The Lady in Gold - The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece (Anne-Marie O'Connor, 2012)

Far more interesting than anticipated.  I'm sure it helped that I've recently read quite a bit more about Austria and this historical period (most recently here and here).  This had strands of Austria in twilight of Habsburg empire, incorporation of Jews into the empire, all of the famous musicians, scientists, thinkers in Vienna c. 1900, Nazi looting of war art, concentration camps, Anschluss, etc.  Not to mention the main story lines about Klimt's art and the postwar efforts to reunite lost art works with owners or heirs.

The far-more-famous portrait (version 1)

Klimt apparently quite the personality - not of noble birth, but an obvious artistic talent that received major commissions.  He and others decided they needed to be "free" of the usual bourgeois restraints - no doubt some artistic considerations here, but some of this is just uninteresting pushing of boundaries for its own sake.    Klimt got into doing nudes; quite a bit apparently pornographic more than anything else; loved having relationships with his female models (reportedly had 14 children by them).

But Klimt was an undeniable talent.  Jews - generally accepted and successful in Viennese society notwithstanding some strong anti-Semitic strains - were more willing to sponsor non-mainstream artists like Klimt.  He did a pricey portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.  Then a second portrait years later - more realistic, far less attractive.  The author was more than willing to endlessly speculate whether Klimt had an affair with Bloch-Bauer - whatever, no one knows, who cares.  That got tiresome.

The circles these folks ran in - Gustav and Alma Mahler.  Sigmund Freud.  Arnold Schoenberg.

Hitler as making a serious attempt at becoming an artist in Vienna.  Walking the streets there at the same time as all these other folks!  Perhaps contributing to his view of the relationships of Jews and "degenerate" artists.  (Not surprisingly, the Nazis did not care for most of Klimt's work - though they did recognize the significance of Adele's portrait #1.  Couldn't display it as originally titled - a Jewess! - so just gave it a neutral name (The Lady in Gold, if I recall correctly).

#2 - more realistic.

I hadn't realized that the Ringstrasse was made possible by tearing down the old city walls (useful in repelling Turks all the way up to 1683).

The stories about Nazi looting and other depredations were effective in this book - partly because the characters and families had been introduced.  Interesting escape stories; generally bad outcomes for Jews who waited too long.  The same effect held with the moral ambiguities facing Austrians in the face of a Nazi tide - how does one react?  Wow.

As discussed in Tony Judt's work - how Austria, perhaps more than anywhere else, tried to position itself after the war as Hitler's "first victim" - deliberate amnesia.  That seems pretty understandable, also - ugh - but somehow life needed to go on.  Later generations were more willing to look into the unpleasant facts.  Kurt Waldheim, for example.

And real ambiguity about how to handle stolen artworks - should they remain on exhibition in Austria?  Or returned to heirs, somewhat distant, for resale into the private market where they end up who knows where?

Remodeling the Belvedere (built for Eugene of Savoy!) as a back-up bunker for Hitler.  Stolen artworks hidden there.

Los Angeles expats - Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, Alma Mahler, Schoenberg, Billy Wilder.

Adele's portrait #1 as the center of the controversy - partly because an aging heir (sympathetic figure) residing in LA found a lawyer who pushed the case.  And to what a result!  Not resolved until around 2006.  An Estee Lauder heir as buyer.  Interesting story (with picture of the primary plaintiff (Maria)) about the purchase is here.

Light in August (William Faulkner, 1932)

I have avoided Faulkner, but this book makes me reconsider.

What do blacks think of works like this?  A period piece (from 1932)?  Joe Christmas's alleged Negro blood is not presented very favorably (or am I projecting that somehow).  The description of the "negro" part of town.  Etc.

Also seems like there are lots of characters who were "Christian" in pretty psycho sort of way.

Maybe all this was a staple of the South in this era?  In one way the story/setting reminded me of this book:  a world really far away, I couldn't even imagine what that was like.

Main story lines are interconnected:

Lena Grove is pregnant and looking for the father - Lucas Burch (who is on the run under the name Joe Brown).  Lena gets to the right town and runs into Byron Bunch, who helps her get settled and get in touch with Burch/Brown (while falling in love with her himself).  (I know there are lots of Christianity allusions in this book though typically I miss stuff like that; but even I could pick up Lena evoking the unwed Mary with child, Bunch evoking the Joseph figure here.)

The town's ex-preacher is Gail Hightower - his grandfather was killed in the Civil War (though not gloriously).  Hightower keeps having visions of Civil War cavalry charges; this obsession (and a let's say unsatisfactory relationship with his wife) is why he is "ex" preacher.  Bunch consults with him, etc.

Joe Christmas is an orphan adopted by conservative parents - doesn't conform with the father's wishes, has uniformly negative relationships with women, starts selling alcohol illegally and uses Burch/Brown as a go-fer in the business.  Stays in an old negro cabin on a property owned by a wealthy northern woman who was ostracized by the town because she supported progress for blacks.  They have a relationship.  The woman gets murdered - not clear which of two suspects did it, however.

Burch/Brown's claim that Christmas had negro blood served him in good stead.  The sheriff captures Christmas eventually and he is visited by his grandparents (who he's never seen).

Not sure what to make of this, but I liked it.

The Little Red Guard - A Family Memoir (Wenguang Huang, 2012)

The story starts in 1973 - Grandma decides she wants a traditional Chinese burial alongside her long-deceased husband.  China - under population pressure - doesn't permit this (cremation only).  Her son - who takes great pride in being "filial" in traditional way - is conflicted.  Wants to help his mother, but also has been a supporter (though eyes wide open) of the Communist regime.  Arranging a traditional burial could be done, but would be risky to his career as a Party member.

Story is written by the eldest grandson who - after his father decides to accommodate Grandma - ends up sleeping in the same room as the coffin for a few years.  Then moves on to foreign language school, eventually ends up in U.S. as a writer.

This was all pretty interesting, but I don't particularly recommend the book.  Useful lens on 20th-century China, starting with the travails of the 1940s - famine, Japanese incursion, revolution, etc.  Then the Mao era - with ridiculous, lethal policies abounding.  Political winds shift course as the leadership encourages cultural revolution, living in the countryside, anti-bourgeois, profit-seeking, then backs off, etc., over the course of the years.

We are somewhat aware of the mass starvation under Mao's agricultural "policies" but this book did tend to bring home the concept of hunger - the author's mother would go out to wheat fields after they were harvested and crawl around on hands and knees trying to find grains that had been missed.  These folks weren't in direct danger of starvation - but, wow.

The main story line rather dragged given that Grandma lived on for about 20 years after requesting the coffin, outliving her "filial" son; and the eldest grandson (author) was away when she died, so he missed out as well.

Quick read, useful insights, not that great.  China is really, really different than anything in my experience.

The First World War (John Keegan, 1998)

I've recently been going into some specific facets of WWI (such as this very good work); I very much liked the pictorial version of this book as described here; so I decided to take up the narrative version as a bit of a review and recap.  Much worthwhile.  Keegan writes really well.  And he is charmingly supportive of his native country (England).

Something good about this book:  more focus on the Eastern front (and Italy).  Typically not emphasized in WWI stuff I've read so far.  Russia laboring away for three long years before communists cut out - I had the impression Russia had pretty much checked out after Tannenbaum - not so.

Then there's just the overall amazing-ness- that a war like his could happen in a prosperous Europe with so much in common across all of these countries - culture, religion, business ties, travel (including tourism now involving, for the first time, the middle and lower classes).  Not sure how to measure but the connectedness across Europe might have been stronger than even today, given interposition of the Iron Curtain and separate (and dramatically different) development paths for decades.  100 years later - these folks have been EU partners in one form or the other, admittedly with varying degrees of success, for decades already!  Why were they killing one another so vigorously, so recently?

The German naval build-up was a very, very real factor in reducing England's choices.

Have read elsewhere about Sarajevo, the interlocking alliances, the inevitability of mobilization; that Germany believed it needed to act quickly.

That WWII is not a separate war at all!  The more one reads, the clearer it is that WWII was merely a continuation of WWI.

Have read elsewhere of the futility of frontal assaults in the trenches.  Of Verdun, the Somme, Ypres, etc.  The breathtaking, shocking casualties - simply unbelievable - yet they kept at it for years.  How, how did this happen??

Kitchener's groups - units from single towns in England, inexperienced, predictable (at least in hindsight) devastation for particular towns.

How easy it is to criticize the commanders - and they probably deserve most of it - Keegan does note the paramount importance of real time communications in a complex, fluid situation, and how the persistent failure of that factor - placed alongside the industrial killing apparatus - limited commanders and contributed to the slaughter.  Commanders could not obtain information, communicate decisions, accomplish anything once battle was joined.

The courage, the sacrifice, the slaughter.  Today's cynicism - much stemming from WWI - hadn't yet set in.  It has now, with a deserved vengeance.

America's entry - the mass of numbers - men and equipment - Germany spent, Austria worthless per usual.

"But then the First World War is a mystery.  Its origins are mysterious.  So is its course.  Why did a prosperous continent, at the height of its success as a source and agent of global wealth and power and at one of the peaks of its intellectual and cultural achievement, choose to risk all it had won for itself and all it offered to the world in the lottery of a vicious and local internecine conflict?  Why, when the hope of bringing the conflict to a quick and decisive conclusion was everywhere dashed to the ground within months of its outbreak, did the combatants decide nevertheless to persist in their military effort, to mobilize for total war and eventually to commit the totality of their young manhood to mutual and existentially pointless slaughter?"

Why, indeed?

Everything about this is simply fascinating, and so disheartening.  I will keep reading about it.

How to Live -or- A Life of Montaigne (Sarah Bakewell, 2010)

Wasn't sure how to approach this book - it had great reviews, and Montaigne is Montaigne; but the insipid self-help industry (of which this book smacks) typically is annoying, at best.  


After reading through (pretty quickly):  I would say this book comes down somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately more on the self-help side.  I don't recommend it; to the extent the book was interesting, it was mostly due to putting some context around Montaigne's life and times.  And that did have some value.

There are 20 chapters responding to the titular question ("How to live?") - with gems such as "Do a good job, but not too good a job;" "Reflect on everything; regret nothing;" "Be ordinary and imperfect;" etc.  You get the idea.

This is standard stuff for the self-help industry, which - like the weight loss industry - appears to be completely worthless, yet recession-proof.  Only a really wealthy society could actually blow $$ on this stuff.

So skip this book and just the read the Essays themselves, as folks have been doing for centuries.

Dreadnought - Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War (Robert K. Massie, 1991)

Robert Massie writes history in a way that comes across as great stories.  I previously had the good fortune to read Nicholas and Alexandra and his biography of Peter the Great.  This one - very good, though I think unnecessarily long - over the 900 pages, I think he devoted too much space to biographical details of too many figures in England and Germany in these days.

But the book is still entirely worth reading (I coped by just blowing through the parts that provided more detail than I wanted).  And there is a very real benefit to all the biographical detail - it gives some sort of glimpse into the human side of the key figures involved in the naval build-up that preceded World War I.

The early part of the book gets into the familial ties between Britain and Germany.  We all remember that Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's grandson (and therefore the nephew and cousin of the two kings that succeeded Victoria prior to World War I).  And that Victoria herself had a German mother.  But going through the detail underscored the tight personal relationships.  (And something like this extended across most of the remaining courts.)  Amazing that they could end up at war.

The early part also discussed Bismark.  The hopes for liberal parliamentary in the combined Germany - certainly this seemed to be the prevailing desire in 1848.  Bismark embodied conservative Prussian values, very different - the combined Germany he created focused power in Chancellor and Kaiser.  Wilhlem's father's premature death may have ended the last hopes for liberal parliament; Bismark et al had cultivated Wilhelm to be conservative.  


Wilhelm's interest in building a German navy - shared by Tirpitz - Wilhelm's interest probably based on experiences in England.  Germany as a rising power with large population, positioned to dominate Europe.  But weak sea access, and subordinate to British navy for colonies, etc.  Wilhelm didn't want this to continue, England - as a sea power - couldn't permit Germany to approach its fleet sizes.  A true arms race.

Jackie Fisher - interesting admiral - British navy changes dramatically to embrace new technologies.  It was not easy to achieve change - no big naval engagements for a century, so often dealing with obsolete wooden ships where the focus was on cleaning the decks.  Leading to "dreadnoughts" - fast, heavily armored, massive guns - a whole new game.  How to pay for them?

The name "Dreadnought" seems inspired in connection with these awful vessels of destruction - vaguely terrifying - the motto for the original dreadnought was "Fear God - and Dread Naught".  Because these ships were designed such that they didn't need to fear anything (remember, there were no attack planes in existence at the time).

England sees a need for something it traditionally resisted - some form of continental alliance - mostly due to Germany's growing strength, including strength at sea.  Many efforts to reach an understanding with Germany; but it ends up being with France and Russia.

A young Winston Churchill taking over the navy in the last years before the war.

The events following the assassination in Sarajevo - many, many opportunities for the leaders to head off the war.  German generals emphatically believing that Germany was surrounded, that the Slavs were regaining strength and needed to be dealt with "now"; manipulating, at least somewhat, the political leadership.  The Schlieffen plan to attack through Belgium and how this ultimately brought England into the war. The lamps going out all over Europe.

I wonder how it could have been worse if England had stayed out of the war.  Seems Germany could then have delivered the planned knockout blow in France.  Would that have been worse than WWI as it unfolded (including aftermath such as WWII, disaster in eastern Europe, etc.)?

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (Samuel Johnson, 1759)

I much liked Boswell's biography of Johnson, but still have trouble figuring out where he fits in the literary world.  Other than his dictionary and all the essays, aphorisms and bon mots - I think he wrote quite a bit of other stuff, but don't know that it really took off.  I signed out of the library a one-volume collection of selected "prose and poetry" by Johson - started working through it, decided not to keep after it.  Probably gave up too soon, but it wasn't that interesting.

I did work all the way through a short story - Rasselas - didn't find it all that compelling either.  I think this is one of his better-known works.  It reminded me of Voltaire's Candide;  but I didn't like it as much.

Junior members of Abyssinian royalty are confined to a hidden valley from which it is impossible to escape - though all needs are met in the finest possible way.  Rasselas becomes discontented, eventually escapes with his sister and their tutor (who had experience in the outside world).  They go around trying to find happiness, or purpose - meet up with various folks, find out that it's a pretty complicated issue.  Eventually they go back to Abyssinia - wiser, perhaps somewhat sadder as well.

1493 - Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Charles C. Mann, 2011)

This book is a follow-on to the author's highly successful book from a couple years - titled "1491" (discussed here).  "1491" had a bunch of interesting ideas, many admittedly speculative, about life in North America prior to the arrival of Columbus.

"1493" is about what is loosely defined as the "Columbian Exchange" - the massive exchange of plants, animals, diseases, humans, culture, ideas between the eastern and western hemispheres that followed in Columbus's wake.   The book isn't as good as "1491" - scattershot - there are so many aspects to the Exchange that it's impossible for an author to try to cover it so broadly.  But I still think this is worth reading (quickly). 

Some things I was interested in:

1.  The power of tobacco.  Widespread use, addiction.  Interesting how governments wanted to ban it but couldn't as a practical matter, plus it was useful to tax it heavily.  Sounds familiar.

2.  I like the stories about how the transfer of potatoes out of the Andes led to much change in Europe and elsewhere.  Turns out that people can live just fine on no food other than potatoes and milk.  Potatoes stored well.  They grew underground - safer.  They were ready for harvest earlier than traditional grains (starving time for Europeans typically was the weeks/months before harvest - now you could eat potatoes during this gap).  They dramatically out-produced traditional grains (wheat, barley, oats) - by at least a factor of four.  This supported population increase, and pretty much ended famine in Europe.  Countries like Ireland became heavily dependent on potatoes; Ireland had a massive population boom before the famous 19th-century blight episode.  Ireland still is the only country in Europe with a lower population now than in 19th century.

3.  Maize.  Tomatoes.  Peppers.  Made in Americas, associated with cuisine from other parts of the world. 

4.  China traded silk and porcelain for Spanish silver.  Took in Western hemisphere plants.  Big changes.

5.  Interesting discussion of how the races intermingled in the early days pretty freely; then as the years went by, things became stricter.  In the early days, the native Americans were considered innocent and redeemable - unlike Jews and Muslims, their religious beliefs were excused as a product of ignorance rather than knowing rejection of the true faith.  As time passed and acceptance of the true faith was increasingly sketchy, the somewhat-tolerant view changed.  Gotta preserve status somehow.  Unlike the English in North America - the Spanish and Portuguese seldom brought along women - so mixing with the locals was widespread.  Mulatto (Afro-European); mestizo (Indo-European); zambo (Afro-Indian); Castizo (Spaniard-mestizo); morisco (Spanish-mulatto); etc.  Bizarre "casta" paintings that provide instruction about cultural mixes. 

6.  Barbers in Mexico City complaining about cheap Chinese immigrant competition.  A common complaint in those days.

7.  That the numbers of blacks and Asians coming into the Americas was massively higher than the number of whites.  Many escaped or otherwise established a way of life independent of the white power structure.  But pretty much out of sight.  Massive European immigration in 19th century increased the number of whites to the level we're familiar with now.