Wives and Daughters

wivesanddaughtersWives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, 4/5

I approached this substantial novel from the unusual (for me) position of having previously twice watched and loved its BBC miniseries adaptation.  Because of this, I was unable to view the familiar story with fresh eyes and appreciate it on a purely literary level.  However, after a brief struggle, I resigned myself to the situation and, as a sort of companion to the miniseries, the novel was extremely enjoyable.  It almost felt like a behind-the-scenes supplement, providing to characters and scenes additional insights that did not come across in the film version.

A lack of archetypal characters distinguishes this book from the genre of sentimental, cloyingly romantic 19th century literature to which it could easily have belonged.   Instead of pronouncing overly-simplistic, moralistic judgments on all of her creations, Gaskell uses a delicate hand to portray the complicated motives and actions of a cast that is as flawed and human as it is appealing.

As my sister thoughtfully warned me beforehand, the novel ends abruptly, unfinished due to the author’s sudden death.  Two completing chapters, accompanied by an overall increase of the delightful sarcasm and humour that occasionally shines through, would be the only additions needed to make this novel perfectly delightful.

[Why I read it: it’s my sister’s favourite book.]

Logic

LogicLogic: or, the Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth with a Variety of Rules to Guard Against Error in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life, as well as in the Sciences by Isaac Watts, D.D., 4/5

Watts’ optimistic attempt to break down and methodise the ideal workings of the human brain is a little too prosaic to leave much of an impression and a little too complicated to be easily applicable to everyday life.  However, the text is accessible, unpretentious and impeccably organised, addressing in four parts the topics of perception and ideas,  judgment and proposition, reason and syllogism, disposition and method.  Watts provides common-sense categorisations of all beings (divided into possible or actual, substance or mode, simple or compound, animate or inanimate, etc.), ideas (sensible, spiritual or abstracted, simple or complex, compound or collective, universal or particular, etc.), words (negative or positive, simple or complex, common or proper, etc.), propositions (universal, particular, indefinite or singular, affirmative or negative, etc), prejudices (arising from things, words, ourselves or other persons), syllogisms (universal or particular, negative or affirmative, simple, complex, conjunctive or compound, etc.) and methods (natural or arbitrary, synthetic or analytic).

The only part that went almost completely over my head was that on syllogisms, where I would have appreciated a clearer definition of terms and perhaps some diagrams.  My favourite sections were not those in which Watts laid out the reasonably obvious in painstaking detail, but rather the parts where he spoke wisely about human nature and tendencies.  I never tire of rediscovering that people are just people, no matter how far back in the past they existed.

Two parts that I found particularly insightful and affecting were those on overly-emotional people and sceptics.  On the first topic, Watts kindly advises that “this sort of people ought to judge of things and persons in their most sedate, peaceful, and composed hours of life, and reserve these judgments for their conduct at more unhappy seasons” (204).  About scepticism (a fault towards which I tend), Watts explains:

Scepticism is a contrary prejudice.  The dogmatist is sure of every thing, and the sceptic believes nothing.  Perhaps he has found himself often mistaken in matters of which he thought himself well assured in his younger days, and therefore he is afraid to give assent to anything again.  He sees so much show of reason for every opinion, and so many objections arising also against every doctrine, that he is ready to throw off the belief of every thing; he renounces at once the pursuit of truth, and contents himself to say, There is nothing certain.  It is well if, through the influence of such a temper, he does not cast away his religion as well as his philosophy, and abandon himself to a profane course of life, regardless of hell or heaven.

Both these prejudices last mentioned [dogmatism and scepticism], though they are so opposite to each other, yet they arise from the same spring, and that is, impatience of study, and want of diligent attention in the search of truth.  The dogmatist is in haste to believe something; he cannot keep himself long enough in suspense, till some bright and convincing evidence appear on one side, but throws himself casually into the sentiments of one party or another, and then he will hear no argument to the contrary.  The sceptic will not take pains to search things to the bottom, but when he sees difficulties on both sides, resolves to believe neither of them.  Humility of soul, patience in study, diligence in inquiry, with an honest zeal for truth would go a great way towards the cure of both these follies” (202).

[Why I read it: a PDF version (from my dad, I think) sat in my Downloads folder for years, but I never read it because I hate reading books on the computer.  I was about to delete the file, when I decided it still looked pretty interesting and ordered a proper copy from the library through inter-library loan.]

Founding Mothers

founding mothersFounding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts, 3/5

This book about the women behind the men behind the American Revolution provides an interesting historical perspective but is not very engagingly presented.  Much of it felt dry and unfocused, switching dizzyingly from character to character and at times reading more like a genealogy or a college research essay than a polished product of academic research.  Also, I found Roberts’ editorial interjections to be annoying and unscholarly, distracting from the main content.

Despite these issues, I was struck by two aspects of the historical period that I hadn’t considered before.  One was the fact that, despite the turmoil of the times and the lack of spousal support (with husbands constantly away for business, politics and war), these women produced babies at a staggeringly high rate.  You would think that people would be reluctant to bring children into lives that were so threatened by immediate violence and economic instability, but that didn’t seem to slow them down at all.  The only thing more surprising than the number of children they had was the number that died – birthing and burying seemed to be the main domestic occupation.

The other aspect that almost made this book worthwhile was its portrayal of how, with independence achieved, the United States were extremely resistant to the establishment of a centralised, federal government.  Many politicians of the time despaired of ever creating a stable country, much less a constitution that everyone could agree on.  It seems that the extreme distrust and skepticism of the government evinced by many modern-day conservatives is a legitimate inheritance from their revolutionary forebears.

[Why I read it: passed on to me by a friend who had finished with it.]

As You Like It

as you like itAs You Like It by Shakespeare, 4/5

Low on plot but high on charm.

[Why I read it: I’m on long-term mission to read all of Shakespeare’s works.]

Infrastructure

infrastructureInfrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes, 5/5

I haven’t experienced many books that I would call “life-changing,” but this astounding work is certainly one of the few.  Inexplicably, Hayes is able to take a topic that seems, at best, slightly off-putting, and turn it into 500 pages of some of the most engrossing reading material I have ever encountered.  Covering everything from power plants to mining, his addictive prose entices the reader from fact to fact until it is difficult to even imagine a mindset in which a laden telephone pole does not seem a thing of beauty and a steel mill a thing of wonder.  What could have been the world’s most boring textbook seems instead a labour of love and curiosity, radiating passion and good humour while communicating a staggering amount of information about the inner (and outer) workings of industry.  Even the numerous photos (taken by the author) are noteworthy for their high quality and artistic composition.

So why did I find this book to be life-changing?  In part, because it made me realise that there is no topic either dry or boring, but writing makes it so.  This opens up worlds – no longer do I need worry about finding interesting topics, I only need to find interesting authors.  Secondly, this book opened my eyes to the appeal of industrial structures and the beauty of their functionality.  What was once unsightly (or at least, unseen), such as cell towers, water treatment plants, power substations, overpasses, etc. has a new fascination for me.

It’s certainly not like me to drool praise so lavishly, but there is no denying that Infrastructure transcends my measly five-point rating system and, if there was a higher score than “perfect,”  would surely deserve it.

[Why I read it: it caught my eye as I wandered through the library.]

On Crafting Compliments: Three Simple Facts

With the following realisations, I fancy that I have mastered the art of complimentation.

Fact #1: There is an inverse relationship between how good a compliment is and how statistically likely it is to be true.

E.g. “You are the most beautiful person in the world” is a very good compliment, but also very unlikely to be true whilst “You are more beautiful than Abraham Lincoln but less beautiful than Angelina Jolie” is extremely likely to be true, but…..see Fact #2.

Fact #2: Compliments and insults exist on the same spectrum – a very poor compliment is, in fact, an insult (though the reverse is, strangely enough, not true).

E.g. see example above.

Fact #3: The “I think” qualifier, used by conscientious complimenters to ensure the veracity of their statements, can only be used at the beginning of the compliment, otherwise it becomes an insult.

E.g. “I think your quirky sense of humour is charming” vs. “Your quirky sense of humour is charming, I think.”

The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde

wite and humor of oscar wildeThe Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde edited by Alvin Redman, 4/5

Unsurprisingly, it is Oscar Wilde himself who best summarises the reason why I both love and disrespect him:

Between me and life there is a mist of words always.  I throw probability out of the window for the sake of a phrase, and the chance of an epigram makes me desert truth.  Still I do aim at making a work of art (142).

This small paperback is surprisingly dense, containing a collection of over 1000 Oscar Wilde quotes and excerpts on a variety of topics.  I especially appreciated the inclusion of quotes allegedly spoken by Wilde in conversation, since these are not as readily available as his written works.  I would have given the collection 5/5 if not for the censorious and subjectively judgmental introductions to each section by editor Alvin Redman.  A critique of Wilde’s life and morality would be more appropriate content for a biography and Redman would have done better to merely let the content of the book speak for itself.

The Winslow Boy

winslow boyThe Winslow Boy: A Play in Four Acts by Terence Rattigan, 3/5

I have yet to develop much of a taste for plays, finding that they typically (though of course, not always) have shallow plots and lack character development.  This work is no exception, but I enjoyed the 1999 movie version, starring Jeremy Northam, so much that it was still a fun read.

Bridget Jones’s Diary

bridget jones's diaryBridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, 2/5

The only thing more disturbing than horrible Bridget Jones and the frankly repulsive contents of her diary is the fact that author Helen Fielding is so very triumphant throughout about how well she has identified with modern, single, female 30-somethings.  I have never read a better case for not turning 30.

The Old Man and the Sea

old man and the seaThe Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, 3/5

This short novel is deceptively simple…I assume.  At face value, it seemed to me a rather straightforward and bland story, pleasingly written but almost completely innocuous.  Perhaps other people feel some sort of immediate personal connection to this book, but I felt that the characters were archetypal, the plot slow-moving and the moments of profundity scarce.  During the middle section, I started to grow annoyed that the sole narrative voice was the Old Man talking to himself.

Reading it wasn’t a bad experience and I didn’t hate it, but the main question I’m left with is why is this so famous?  Did everyone have to read it in school because it’s important, or is it important because everyone read it in school?  I just feel like I missed the point somehow.  I guess it’s off to the Wikipedia article to see what the deal is.