1491 - New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Charles C. Mann, 2005)

I wasn't even aware of this book until seeing favorable reviews of the author's next book - titled "1493", of course. This one is simply full of interesting ideas about what may have been going on prior to arrival of Europeans in 1492, many things I've never thought or heard about, many things not very well "proven".

My take-away on "1491":

1. He makes the point that an incredible amount of new research and thinking have taken place in recent decades, yet most folks carry around a few simplistic ideas in the form taught in the 1960s or 70s. Count me in that group.

2. Inca very much top-down. Northeast Indians more democratic. Likely that settler observations of these Indians influenced European thinkers advancing individual rights. Interesting idea - that Europeans learned from the Indians, rather than strictly one-way.

3. A different take on the deaths-by-disease - this author (and some others) believes that massive depopulation via European disease occurred between the time of Columbus's landing (and the other early arrivals) and the later arrival of settler groups. Early arrivals talked about all the settlements and Indians that were observed; those arriving say 100 years later talked about how empty the country was. This is quite interesting, if quite unproven. It's quite possible that the widely held idea of a lightly populated wilderness wasn't accurate.

4. Another very interesting idea - that the Indians somehow lived in beatific harmony with an untouched primeval wilderness - this idea has been widely accepted (probably going back to the day of the "later arrivals" per preceding paragraph) but may well be false. Author discusses widespread use of fire to promote forests with limited underbrush, preferred trees actively promoted by the Indians, etc. Also applied to Amazonia and elsewhere. The environmental crowd may not like this approach, but it seems that even the Indians actively managed their landscape.

5. Discussion of Clovis and Folsom in reference to the Siberian land bridge . . . not sure where this ends up.

6. The amazing-ness of Peru - along the coast, in the uplands - so much discovered since my school days. Widespread use of cotton - then rare in Europe - via irrigation. Europeans loved ditching wool for cotton. The flukes of Pizarro and Cortez.

7. The amazing-ness of Maya country. And Aztec country. Genetic engineering to come up with maize - a wonder product in terms of nutrition that took over much of the world.

8. Some ideas about animal and plant life . . . similar to rabbits in Australia - how an odd event led to odd consequences ("breakout" event). Passenger pigeons and buffalo may have exploded in population between the first European arrivals and later arrivals, as depopulated Indian groups no longer managed these species. Who knows?

The Complete Short Novels (Anton Chekhov, various dates 1888 - 1896)

I knew almost nothing about Chekhov. I did remember a photo of him visiting a very old Tolstoy. I see he was born in 1860 and mostly wrote short stories and plays. These works (called "short novels" by the translators) are probably the longest works he wrote - five stories, each in the range of 100+ pages.

He was born and raised in a town near the Sea of Azov; his father wasn't very nice it seems, plus bankrupted the family; Chekhov thus grew up quickly and took a lot of responsibility for the family. Became a doctor but didn't do a lot with it; gradually became very well known for his writing.

I liked these novels, a lot.

The first was The Steppe - very different from the other four. Atmospheric, plus. A small boy travels across the steppe to live with a relative and go to school following the death of his mother; he is in the company of a priest, a merchant and then various folks crossing the steppe. Chekhov knew the steppe from growing up and this is a delight to read. The plot, such as it is, is secondary to setting the scene. I probably liked this best of the five.

The Duel was recently made into a movie; it's in the Netflix queue.

The Story of an Unknown Man - this is about someone who poses as a servant to gain information about an enemy, ends up in love with his master's paramour.

Three Years - wealthy Moscow merchant marries a provincial (Yulia) who is not in love with him. They persevere, nice ending.

My Life - Young nobleman doesn't want to undertake a noble profession and falls out with his father. Paints house roofs. Marries the engineer's daughter and they undertaking farming (along with a sobering effort to raise up the serfs (resonant with Tolstoy). Ends up looking out for his sister's daughter (a variant of this theme happened three times in these five stories.)

The Invisible Gorilla - And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, (Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, 2010)

Very quick read. Very unusual type of book for me to select, but the reviews were good.

The authors put together a test that involves counting the number of passes made by basketball players. Hard to believe, but in countless administrations of the test, there are always about 50% of the viewers who don't see that well.

The test is in the video below - it's worth taking.

The book goes on to demonstrate that we shouldn't particularly trust our memories, our eyewitness evidence, etc. How we can and do convince ourselves that we remember being present at events where it isn't the case. About "flashbulb" memories ("where were you when you heard John Kennedy was shot" for people of my generation), and how even these are often inaccurate.

It took the authors lots of pages to make just a few points. Important points, but ones that any reasonably observant person should have a pretty good handle on, at least if they've lived long enough.

Still, a quick read and worth the little time that it took.

Here's the video:

We The Living (Ayn Rand, 1936)

An early novel by Rand - published when she was 30. She describes it as semi-autobiographical. She grew up in Russia in the early days of Communism - and had what now seems like a pretty good take on the system even though both she and the Communist state were quite young.

The theme is the individual being overwhelmed by the collective. Along the way, shows the hypocrisy of the too-often venal Party leaders (who live well while the population stands in lines, lacks food, is shipped to Siberia at a faster rate than under the czar, forced to attend classes - the whole "party line" thing).

The protagonist is Kira; she interacts primarily with Leo (who wasn't a compelling character, not sure why Kira fell for this guy) and Andrei (joined the Party in the early going and is disillusioned as things develop). Plenty of other characters are developed. Sasha and Iruna scene on the train is extremely effective (and sad).

Not great, but a good read. I continue to have the same outlook on Rand - politically incorrect, oversimplifies, but plenty of things definitely worth thinking about.

Sugar: A Bittersweet Story (Elizabeth Abbott, 2008)

Glowing WSJ reviews from a couple years ago, so I decided to try this. Skeptical - I thought it would be another book about how awful slavery was, and how the local ecology was wrecked. The author covers these, but includes all sorts of other fascinating ideas. Well worth reading.

Some thoughts:

1. Cheap sugar in England was consumed disproportionately by lower classes. Cheap and tasty; the ultimate comfort food; sound familiar? A cheap "treat" for factory workers.

2. In sugar societies (and other commodities no doubt) - whites access slaves, resulting in mixed race offspring; this requires classifications (mulatto, sambo, quadroon, mustee, etc.) Differing rights. Whiter-skinned look down on darker-skinned (sounds like Muhammed Ali taunting Joe Frazier).

3. Breathtaking value created by sugar colonies - Pitt the Younger estimates that Barbados alone was more valuable to British capitalism than New England, New York and Pennsylvania combined. Fuels factories in England.

4. British authors incorporating West Indies sugar magnates into stories (Jane Austen).

5. Further to #3 above - the West Indies planters pioneered many elements of modern day lobbying. The mandated naval rum ration - didn't happen in a vacuum. Planters even hired a friendly "expert" to tout rum's health benefits. Monopolies, price supports, tariffs. Fighting off competition from sugar beets. All sounds very familiar.

6. Distortion of African development - the old question - impossible to know, but how might the continent have developed without the slave trade?

7. I had wondered why many of these small islands etc. had so many races - in many cases, as abolitionists succeeded or black slaves simply became difficult to obtain or control, planters brought in (via indentures or whatever - tantamount to slavery) - other races. Created tensions which survive to this day between races which might have a lot in common.

8. Haiti - so often in the news - self-liberated black republic. Hasn't worked well.

9. Abolitionists pioneer techniques like boycotting the offending product (sugar). This tactic became widespread.

10. Spanish-American War - hadn't realized the extent of American interests in controlling Cuban sugar.

11. 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis - how "fast foods" were pioneered - folks could grab items and eat while walking around the exhibits. Many are sugar-based. "Pop." Ice cream. Techniques to make chocolate more accessible. Resulting spike in sugar consumption.

The cover photo - check out the tattered outfits - cane workers did incredibly difficult work - abolition of slavery (including in US) didn't fix things quickly.

The Time it Never Rained (Elmer Kelton, 1973)

Very unusual read for me - a "western" novel.

The protagonist - a small-scale rancher named Charlie Flagg - tries to survive a multi-year west-Texas drought while refusing to participate in government relief programs. That's why it was recommended on one or two of the economics websites I follow.

The author was trying to tell a good story, not just make some points about government interventions in markets. And it was enjoyable - but a very easy read, probably too easy. I did like the way he addressed the relationship between the ranchers and workers who had crossed, or illegally were trying to cross, the border. Some of that resonated with current news.

He developed quite a number of characters, including his wife, the Mexican family that lived on the ranch and assisted with the work, his rodeo-crazed son (and rodeo-follower wife), other local ranchers, the government officials, etc.

Also addressed the hierarchy within the Hispanic groups - similar to Elizabeth Abbott's book about sugar (finished but not posted).

And it's a useful discussion about the manner in which government programs cause more problems than they solve; they become entrenched and almost impossible to shut down as coalitions coalesce around them; how politicians chase votes spending other people's money. That discussion certainly resonates approximately 40 years later.

Dimanche and other stories (Irene Nemirovsky)

I didn't care a great deal for this set of short stories - written around the time of the second World War but just now translated into English. Perhaps it was published because the author had achieved quite a bit of fame based on her recently published Suite Francaise - which I thought was quite good. The biography of the author also is quite compelling, all the way up to her death in Auschwitz during World War II.

"Flesh and Blood" had many elements that rang true - including the interactions of family members who got together regularly with their elderly (and ill) mother. I liked "Fraternite" - elderly Jewish man encounters person at train station with same name. "Le Spectateur" and "Monsieur Rose" were somewhat similar; the latter had elements of the fleeing-Paris scenes in Suite Francaise.

Quick read, worthwhile.

Cather: Stories, Poems and Other Writings (Library of America)

I still haven't figured out why I find such enjoyment in Willa Cather's work. But I do. It often creates a wistful feeling for me; there are themes about music; there are themes about the midwest in the days of the early settlers; something about that combination really works. And then there appear the odd story about World War I, or even the early days of French Canada, plus various other unexpected items.

This is a volume that probably is considered the odds and ends of Cather's works. I didn't intend to read through the entire volume (just under 1000 pages) but ended up getting through at least 3/4, mostly at the gym, and finding a number of very nice pieces. Mostly shorter stories; some reviews; some poetry (I mostly skipped the latter two categories).

I liked a set of stories titled "Youth and the Bright Medusa" - including "The Diamond Mine," "A Gold Slipper", "Paul's Case", "A Death in the Desert."

"Neighbour Rosicky" is a delightful, warm story - the description of his Bohemian wife and the way she interacted with her five children and others, certainly brought to mind my wife. Just check out the part where they are discussing the five breakfasts with the doctor. Nice.

Another strong character (in "The Best Years") also brought to mind my little wife - this woman was Scandinavian - perhaps it was the way the four children insisted on sleeping in one large room even as they grew up. The title refers to a quote: "Well, this I know: our best years are when we're working hardest and going right ahead when we can hardly see our way out."

Cather ran into a favorite niece (Caroline) of Gustave Flaubert - put together a short work titled "A Chance Meeting" - interesting in its own right, plus I liked the discussion of Flaubert, Balzac, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Stendhal, etc. Apparently Flaubert was very close to this Caroline, wrote her lots of letters (which are compiled), somewhat relied on her.

Of Human Bondage (W. Somerset Maugham, 1915)

I know pretty much nothing about the author; did read that this work is considered his best (and is #66 on a list of top 100 English language novels). Title comes from a quote in Spinoza's Ethics - relating to emotions overcoming reason.

Looking over the dust jacket, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this - seemed likely to be unpleasant (orphan handicapped with club foot is overly sensitive, short on money, directionless, embarks on "doomed love affair").

But the book really works - it pulled me along for 600+ pages, and I got to the point where it really mattered to me that things would go better for the protagonist (Philip).

Thinking back - the book involved lots of characters and locales. We meet Philip as a small child; he moves to the vicarage with his childless uncle and aunt (who really loves him); studies in a public school; studies in Germany; takes a job in accounting; studies art in Paris; studies medicine.

Meets Miss Wilkinson (a middle-aged friend of his aunt and uncle); various interesting pals in Germany, Paris (meets Fanny Price), London; meets Mildred Rogers and falls inexplicably hard for her (repeatedly humiliating himself); meets Norah; meets the Athelny family. Always struggling with funds. Gets offered a share in a practice in a seaside town in the south of England. Gets to know Sally. Philip is always looking for the answer, the pattern, that explains life. Maybe in Cronshaw's Persian rug? He grows, gets to know himself, gets along with all types of folks as the book progress.

I don't know quite why this works so well. Autobiographical elements, I understand. The behavior of the characters, their voices, etc. ring true. Simple, direct writing. Quite a few observations about life that at first blush seem pretty negative, but an even stronger underlying theme with hope; very sympathetic and understanding toward at least the common man.

I liked the book quite a bit.

Anthem (Ayn Rand, 1938)

This is a quite-short work by Ayn Rand - I think it was something of a warm-up for Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. Dystopian future where collectivism has ended up degrading society and individuality is entirely suppressed. A person named Equality 7-2521 breaks out.

Rand is taking lots of the usual criticisms these days in the mainstream media, occasioned by the recent release of a film version of Atlas Shrugged (apparently not a particularly great film version). I continue to think that she has a lot to say, and also continue to think that folks who pick away at elements of "positivism" probably quite correctly find lots of flaws . . . but overall her message has quite a bit of value, especially these days.

Reminded me of Love Among the Ruins, from this collection of Evelyn Waugh short stories.

Also some elements of A Canticle for Leibowitz, described here.

And the suppression of the individual certainly resonates with just-read "Everything Flows".

Everything Flows (Vasily Grossman; last worked on in 1964)

Discussion of Grossman and his larger work (Life and Fate) can be found here.

Grossman wrote this work later, and never finished it (still working on it at time of his death). He's exploring a number of events and themes; perhaps not entirely pulled together; but always coming back to "freedom".

The main character (Ivan Grigoryevich) returns to Moscow after 30 years in the camps - this was after Stalin's death, after Khrushchev's denunciation, when quite a few camp survivors were freed. This led to some difficult meetings with folks that had managed to avoid the camps - typically via denunciations and other forms of collaboration. These folks feel intense guilt; but Grossman includes concepts showing lots of sympathy for folks in the impossible circumstances in which all tried to survive.

Chapters on the starve-out of the Ukrainian kulaks and on the conditions in the women's camps in Siberia are presented in a very matter-of-fact manner; but graphic and almost painful to read.

Grossman concludes with a discussion of Lenin, Stalin, the 19th century Russian writers who perceived Russia as having a "great soul" that would end up leading the world (in comparison to decadent Europe and money-chasing US) - this part is pretty interesting. That Stalin was basically a new Tsar with a better-organized secret police force; that Russia had a 1000 year history of slavery that facilitated 20th century totalitarianism.

So the book is pretty much very heavy duty but with an underlying affirmation - maintained in the face of all contrary evidence - about freedom as man's essential condition.

For folks that went through these events, those concepts must have levels of meaning about which we cannot have a clue.

Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (Diarmaid MacCulloch, 2009)

Saw many glowing reviews and references to this book. They were accurate. Going by my usual barometer of dog-eared pages (I dog-ear a page if there's something of interest, don't make notes in books) - there are over 50 in this book. (Though it is 1000+ pages). And I even bought a copy.

The book is interesting and useful to me because it provides perspective on all the other history I read. The undercurrent of religion is incredibly pervasive . . . thus it's helpful to read again about various historical events from a "history of Christianity" perspective.

The history of the papacy alone is simply amazing. There was nothing inevitable about Roman primacy. Jesus certainly had little to do with Rome. Sounds like there were five highly respected churches in the early going (though even that evolution was quite a story). Rome maneuvered well, took advantage of opportunities, ended up going all the way to an "infallibility" declaration - talk about progress.

Starting with Constantine in 312 - Christianity intertwined with political power. The opposite of its founding principle.


And what an amazing amount of energy has been expended debating points of doctrine . . . many of which points have no real anchor anywhere in Scripture . . . though at least debating doctrine is better than killing people over it . . . how odd that a church founded heavily on stories of persons martyred for their beliefs turned around and killed people over their beliefs.

So many beliefs and practices that we grew up with and took for granted turn out to be fairly recent developments.

The author certainly tries to cover an incredible amount of terrain in just over 1000 pages, so his synopses, edits, etc. inevitably must have involved lots of judgment calls.

Nonetheless - this takes a lot of time to work through, but is well worth it.

Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and their History (Simon Winder, 2010)

Winder notes that Germany is pretty much a dead zone for tourism (at least compared to France, Italy, England, etc.) yet finds that he is fascinated by the place. He ends up putting together an informal history that I found tremendously useful. Background from Fritz Stern, Frederick the Great and Bach, Goethe (and other books tagged with Germany on this blog) helped provide some perspective that made this book useful.

He admits up front that he's not a historian. For all I know many of his musings may be off target.

I've been baffled by the history of the area: late maturation to statehood; tiny independent regions for centuries; how did the area generate the super-high quality musicians, authors, scientists; how did the area generate the Nazis; etc.

My usual method is to dog-ear pages I find interesting; this book was left full of dog-ears.

Tacitus - almost a noble savage description - aimed more at uplifting Roman virtue than any attempt at accurately describing Germany. But this resonated right up to 1933.

Holy Roman Empire - fixation with medieval glory days. Perhaps as a way of legitimizing a disunited area looking at France and England with their long histories as a single nation. Building and restoring castles and monuments after other countries had moved on.

Differences between southern Catholic areas - identifying with Italy - and northern Protestant areas - identifying with Netherlands, England, Scandinavia. Amazing overlap with English monarchy.

So many available princes and princesses that they were married off throughout Europe, even sent to places like Greece and Mexico.

Prussia up in marshy northeast - Protestant - socially progressive it seems earlier than most - success in Napoleonic wars (which wiped out so many of the smaller states).

Winder points out that for all the talk of German militarism - other than a few successes in a seven year period in the 19th century (most notably the Franco-Prussian war, described here) - they never fought after that until WWI, and never really succeeded after that in any war. The short run of success probably created unrealistic expectations.

How the rush to develop a navy - in large part to service worthless, johnny-come-lately colonies - broke up a natural affinity with England and contributed to 20th century disaster.

Lots of entertaining stories about all of the small independent (or partially independent) areas. Somehow this seems to have been an incubator for the arts etc. Weird local museums, buildings, traditions.

WWI failure, the myth that the army hadn't been defeated in WWI, the Weimar republic problems, the rush to blame outsiders who must have undermined the army (Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, etc.), disaster with Nazis, disaster with Soviets. What a history.

The Complete Short Stories of Evelyn Waugh (1998)

I've seen enough favorable references to Evelyn Waugh (he of "Brideshead Revisited" fame) that I thought I needed to check out something he's written. This volume included 39 short stories. 500+ pages, so it took awhile to work through (at the gym).

"Love Among the Ruins" was an enjoyable shot at state-ism - certainly resonates with USA circa 2011. There was a story about a dog who took his job perhaps too seriously, it was funny. I liked "Basil Seal Rides Again".

I don't know much about Waugh (including whatever it is he's known for as an author) . . . he certainly is wonderful with the language, insightful, another excellent observer of human nature. I'll read more.

Dr. Johnson's London (Liza Picard, 2000)

This book was pretty well-reviewed, but I didn't find it all that interesting. Lots of information and facts about London from the period 1740 to 1770; but presented in choppy bites to the point where it felt too much like reading an encyclopedia or the like. The three-decade focus period pretty much correlates with Dr. Johnson's active years. The author was trying to give some perspective on "ordinary" folks.

I noted that dog-fighting was popular. So some things don't change much.

I learned a little about the inception of Methodism (John Wesley) - who reached out to the lower classes and offered a "method" for behaving in a manner that might earn salvation.

A little more perspective on how "German" the British kings were. And I guess Britain didn't ever want a meaningful standing army - thus hiring soldiers from German provinces like Hesse when troops were needed in a hurry.

Very popular to hire folks to carry oneself in a "chair" - easy way to get around, plus permitted avoiding the filthy streets.

Apparently the "gin" craze was pretty serious.

Not that great.