The Poetry of Robert Frost

poetry of robert frost holt rinehart winston 1969The Poetry of Robert Frost: All eleven of his books–complete by Robert Frost, 5/5

I will always have a soft spot for Frost because his “Mending Wall” was the first poem to challenge my stubborn belief as a teenager that poetry must rhyme to be enjoyable.  That poem helped me develop an appreciation for the wordsmithing that can be involved in the creation of blank verse and enabled me to enjoy much more of this collection than I would have so many years ago.  Perhaps part of what makes Frost accessible is his evident love of nature, his ability to find inspiration in simple things and his avoidance of the self-indulgent, wilful obscurity that plagues so much art, in my opinion (i.e. if you can’t understand it, that must mean the creator was a genius, and if you can manage to read deep meaning into it, guess what…the creator must have been a genius).

Why I read it: I think I originally bought this to send to my brother because he doesn’t like poetry much…yet.  Unfortunately for him, I think I must keep it instead.

Because I can’t resist, here are just a couple of my favourite poems from this collection (of which they are not strictly representative):

REVELATION

We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone really find us out.

‘Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

 

BOND AND FREE

Love has earth to which she clings
With hills and circling arms about–
Wall within wall to shut fear out.
But Thought has need of no such things,
For Thought has a pair of dauntless wings.

On snow and sand and turf, I see
Where Love has left a printed trace
With straining in the world’s embrace.
And such is Love and glad to be.
But Thought has shaken his ankles free.

Thought cleaves the interstellar gloom
And sits in Sirius’ disc all night,
Till day makes him retrace his flight,
With smell of burning on every plume,
Back past the sun to an earthly room.

His gains in heaven are what they are.
Yet some say Love by being thrall
And simply staying possesses all
In several beauty that Thought fares far
To find fused in another star.

 

ESCAPIST–NEVER

He is no fugitive–escaped, escaping.
No one has seen him stumble looking back.
His fear is not behind him but beside him
On either hand to make his course perhaps
A crooked straightness yet no less a straightness.
He runs face forward. He is a pursuer.
He seeks a seeker who in his turn seeks
Another still, lost far into the distance.
Any who seek him seek in him the seeker.
His life is a pursuit of a pursuit forever.
It is the future that creates his present.
All is an interminable chain of longing.

There Was a Horse

there was a horse fenner pitz 1941 alfred a knopfThere Was a Horse: Folktales from Many Lands, selected by Phyllis R. Fenner, 5/5

This enjoyable collection of horse-themed legends from a variety of cultures is most notable for its fantastic pen and ink illustrations by Henry C. Pitz.

Why I read it: the title and spine detail caught my eye in a bookstore.

How to Solve It

how to solve it polya princeton science library 2004How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by G. Polya, 3/5

This ambitious book tackles the fascinating topic of heuristics (practical problem-solving techniques) by focusing on a variety of naturally-occurring questions that can lead to solutions and discoveries in mathematics and other fields.  Using mathematical examples that I found challenging and somewhat inaccessible despite their stated simplicity, Polya demonstrates how questions like “What is the unknown?” “Do you know a related problem?” and “Did you use all the data?” can guide a potential problem-solver toward common-sense solutions even to problems that might seem dauntingly complicated at first.  Unfortunately, the book is both very dry and very confusingly organized–I never quite understood the layout and cross-references.  However, it is still a good resource on a surprisingly little-addressed topic.

Confession: I didn’t even attempt to complete the problems at the back of the book–even if I was smart enough to do them, I’ve forgotten most of the math I ever learned and my main reading time is right before falling asleep, which is not really conducive to mental acuity.

Why I read it: it was mentioned in The Organized Mind.

A picture quote I made:

A picture quote from How to Solve It by G. Polya. "No idea is really bad, unless we are uncritical. What is really bad is to have no idea at all." Background image is of the "MegaZapper" Tesla Coil at the Spark Museum of Electrical Invention (Bellingham, WA).

Jasotron: 2012

jasotron 2012 amend andrews mcmeel 2012Jasotron: 2012: A FoxTrot Collection by Bill Amend, 4/5

Usually I’m not a big fan of humor that relies on pop cultural references, but Amend is legitimately funny at times and obviously a huge nerd, which is all I require in a cartoonist.

Why I read it: my brother got it out of the library and it ended up in my gym bag, fulfilling the important role of “backup book” (in case of unforeseen boredom).  I ended up reading half of it while waiting at a Jack in the Box drive-thru for some idiot to collect their $60 order.

Love Factually

love factually welch love science 2016Love Factually: 10 Proven Steps from I Wish to I Do by Duana C. Welsh, PHD, 2/5

I’ve always suspected that I belong to one of the thin ends on the bell curve of normality, so perhaps I should not have been so surprised that reading this book was like reading placards at the zoo about weird animal mating rituals. In this case, the strange animal is a human being who is definitely sure that being married is the key to their happiness and isn’t too hung up on the minor details, like exactly who to marry or why.  After all, if you’re determined to find a spouse, Welch argues that it’s just a simple case of creating a list of more or less arbitrary criteria that can be used to sort through participants in a tireless grind of date-interviews that goes on until you find someone who is either a) if you are a woman, a man who pays for everything and is infatuated with you thanks to your hard-to-get attitude or b) if you are a man, a woman who can be convinced to love you and is as young and beautiful as your status and economic resources merit.

As a guide to getting what you already know you want in a relationship, this book is both practical and disturbingly plausible.  But for people who not only don’t know what they want, but doubt even the possibility of being able to predict what will actually make them happy, this book is worse than useless–it’s nauseating.

Why I read it: it was a gift from a family member.

The Eustace Diamonds

eustace diamonds oxford world's classics 1998The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope, 4/5

Think Pride and Prejudice in reverse, minus the likeable characters and written by a man.  I loved it!  There was lots of gold digging, emotional manipulation, proposals of marriage, retractions of proposals of marriage, thievery and lies, all presented with the quaint respectability that permeates 19th-century British literature.

Why I read it: I wanted to try something by Trollope that wasn’t from his Chronicles of Barsetshire.

Excerpts from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Excerpts from extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds mackay harmony 1980Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay, 2/5

Argh, I hate abridged books and would never have purchased this if I’d known it only contained the first (and arguably, most boring) 100 pages of the complete book, whose unabridged summary deceptively appears on the back of this one.  I was promised stories about alchemy, mesmerism, witch burnings and crusades, but all this slim collection contains is esoteric accounts of early stock market crashes.  I found these to be almost incomprehensible, thanks to all the economic terminology, but an accountant, stock trader or student of finance might find them very interesting.

Why I read it: What can I say, the cover appealed to me and it was almost free.

Conversations with Casals

conversations with casals corredor dutton 1956Conversations with Casals by J. Ma. Corredor, translated from the French by André Mangeot, 3/5

Because this book contains a lot of opinions but lacks a corresponding amount of supportive reasoning for said opinions, its value will directly correspond to the reader’s estimation of Casals.  As someone previously unfamiliar with the famous cellist and conductor but very familiar with the appeal to authority fallacy, the aspect of the book that I enjoyed most was not the insight into Casals’ world view, but all the name dropping of other famous musicians and composers.  My favourite anecdote was when, refusing to perform a Dvořák concerto with a conductor who called it “horrible music,” Casals turned to Debussy for support, who responded “Come on, if you wanted to play, you could play.”  Casals was greatly pained by the response but I was greatly amused.

Why I read it: I love the following quote by Casals and when I saw a book about him, hoped to read more in the same vein.

I am perhaps the oldest musician in the world. I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life, and to say things to the world that are true.

The Ra Expeditions

ra expeditions heyerdahl scribner laidlaw just-a-taste libraries 1988The Ra Expeditions by Thor Heyerdahl, 4/5

Heyerdahl is at it again, living out a real-life adventure story as he sails across the Atlantic in a boat made of reeds and rope.  I love how the author researches and resurrects ancient technology, but I didn’t find this book to be as fresh and compelling as his account of the Kon-Tiki expedition.  This was just a bit more calculated and agenda-driven, lacking the magical sense of adventure and soul that infused Heyerdahl’s earlier portrayal of his journey aboard the famous balsa wood raft.  I suspect it was the Kon-Tiki fame and corresponding sense of responsibility that stole away some of the spontaneity of his earlier adventures.

N.B. I would suggest nobody buy this 1988 Scribner Laidlaw edition, which not only lacks the original photographs but, annoyingly, still includes captions for them.

Why I read it: My brother intended to reread it during our trip to Norway, but I hijacked it.

Ra II Kon-Tiki Museum Thor Heyerdahl 2016

I took this photo of the Ra II while visiting the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway (March 2016).

 

Armed Response

armed response kenik merril press 2005Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense by David Kenik, 2/5

There is a distinctly self-published feel to this book which doesn’t really inspire confidence (call me snobby, but I think the cover text shouldn’t be more colorful than the pictures inside).  However, it does provide a very basic overview of equipment and skills necessary for the responsible concealed carrier.  I don’t know much about the topic, so I can’t put my finger on what exactly the book is missing, but it felt light on information–there is a disappointing lack of legal guidelines and very little advice about tactics.  Also, you do have to get past the author’s gun geekery and a bit of self-importance that reminds me of some of the more embarrassing scenes from Mall Cop.  Kenik swears he’s not paranoid (never a hopeful sign), but he does seem borderline.  For example, he actually recommends writing “detailed notes of all relevant class lectures, videos, books and magazine articles” and mailing them to yourself so “the envelope can be opened in court to prove what knowledge you possessed at a given date” (14).  Hmmmm… Or you could maybe not do that and be ok too?

Why I read it: it was a birthday present (buying a gun has been on my to-do list for years).