Moby Dick and Ahab. The Mann Gulch fire as the Great White with Maclean as Ahab.
Unlike Melville's detachment as author, Maclean inserts himself as thMoby Dick and Ahab. The Mann Gulch fire as the Great White with Maclean as Ahab.
Unlike Melville's detachment as author, Maclean inserts himself as the utterly obsessed Captain hunting down the "truth" of what actually happened in those horrific few minutes on a stifling August afternoon.
While quantitatively a painstaking reconstruction of the deadliest day in Smokejumper history, it's also qualitatively about Maclean's assessment of what it means to be an effective storyteller.
The book demands patience of the reader as Maclean sometimes meanders into the arcane science of fires and firefighting but the passion of his pursuit of the "right" story is constant and noble.
And the (very) occasional invocations of his wife's death in service of the effort to do justice to the young men who lost their lives late that afternoon is incredibly moving....more
Remarkable. The poems themselves are highly variable, some simple and funny, others stern and hectoring. But taken as a whole, highly engaging.
What maRemarkable. The poems themselves are highly variable, some simple and funny, others stern and hectoring. But taken as a whole, highly engaging.
What makes this a 5 star is the unobtrusive scholarship that reverentially untangles the diversity of the poems. The (tentative) conclusion is that Hanshan is most likely (at least) three different poets writing across decades if not centuries with widely different approaches to the poems' style and subject matter....more
Who's who? Who's what? Dreamscape, sometimes marginally pleasant, often subtly frightening.
Eerily reminiConfusing. Disjointed. Chaotic.
And brilliant!
Who's who? Who's what? Dreamscape, sometimes marginally pleasant, often subtly frightening.
Eerily reminiscent of "I Am Code". It's as if Ravn is a natural version of artificial intelligence.
I'm surprised at the decidedly mixed ratings for what struck me as a stunningly imaginative book. So apparently not for everyone but if you like it, you'll love it....more
Ugh. Dumb. Glib, stupid and utterly unpersuasive. To call it sophistry is a gross insult to Sophists.
Spends the first 120 pages setting up straw man aUgh. Dumb. Glib, stupid and utterly unpersuasive. To call it sophistry is a gross insult to Sophists.
Spends the first 120 pages setting up straw man after straw man attacking those who claim free will doesn't exist. But the straw men actually keep getting the better of the argument! The author finally retreats into a very small space in which free will might operate (in the metaphysical realm of ill-defined "torn decisions," don't bother to try figuring it out but its got a lot to do with chocolate and vanilla ice cream).
Ultimately with the last two pages of the book Balaguer states that "I have not argued in this book that we do have free will..." WELL, that's a welcome confession after all the goofy word salad that comes before.
So it's not really a text about Free Will. A better title might have been "A Meandering Polemic Against Those Who Claim There Is No Free Will."
Why in God's name would MIT associate itself with such a hot mess of an "argument."...more
Frustrating. A work by, though not of, genius. Sometimes and engaging and impressive (particularly in its citations to a plethora of remarkable texts Frustrating. A work by, though not of, genius. Sometimes and engaging and impressive (particularly in its citations to a plethora of remarkable texts spanning centuries). Other times meandering and opaque.
This work of literary criticism lacks the sparkle and, to use the title of one of Calvino's "memos," exactitude of his works of fiction....more
Pretty underwhelming especially when compared with other books on Einstein. Long on biography, short on science and even the biographic material veersPretty underwhelming especially when compared with other books on Einstein. Long on biography, short on science and even the biographic material veers off into some quasi-gossipy cul de sacs. That said, there are a few insights into the man's personality that are sometimes engaging, sometimes disturbing (e.g., his first child).
Much more imaginative is Lightman's Einstein's Dreams....more
Brilliant tour de force covering the evolution of the mathematics, physics, and computer science over the past 100+ years. The portraits of Stunning.
Brilliant tour de force covering the evolution of the mathematics, physics, and computer science over the past 100+ years. The portraits of the individuals involved, Goedel, Oppenheimer, and most prominently Von Neuman, are finely crafted and often hilarious.
The implications of the last few chapters describing the development of artificial intelligence as applied to the game of Go are myriad and mind-boggling....more
Often engaging and quirky, occasionally self-consciously obtuse, this collection of essays, musings and semi-poetry was, for the most part delightful.Often engaging and quirky, occasionally self-consciously obtuse, this collection of essays, musings and semi-poetry was, for the most part delightful. It gets dark at times with discussions of cancer, chemo and death. At (most) other times it's bright, funny and alluring....more
In this book he tippy toes up to a bunch of very important and imaginative thought experiments but runs away into vaLightman can be very frustrating.
In this book he tippy toes up to a bunch of very important and imaginative thought experiments but runs away into vacuous and unsatisfying quasi-standard tropes. Alas the materialist trumps the spiritualist time and again. The are glimpses into the universe(s) where time is an illusion, rocks have a certain consciousness, and cause and effect is actually random bumps but the physicist ultimately checks the artists forays into uncomfortable (at least for a materialist) territory.
Ah, for the open-endedness of Einstein's Dreams......more
Starts with a fair amount of promise about elucidating the intersection of observation and imagination in modern physics and astronomy but, alas, comeStarts with a fair amount of promise about elucidating the intersection of observation and imagination in modern physics and astronomy but, alas, comes progressively crashing down in a confused and confusing mish mash of jargon and weird analogies.
Barely 3 stars. While the subject matter is incredibly important Roines` discussion of it is rambling, repetitive and hard to get through (even thoughBarely 3 stars. While the subject matter is incredibly important Roines` discussion of it is rambling, repetitive and hard to get through (even though it's only just north of 150 pages).
It's a shame. Piketty deserves a much better introduction to his monumental effort. Regardless of what you think of Piketty's work it's impossible to avoid acknowledging it's gravity.
Ugh. Tedious, full of false profundity. As literary criticism, this pseudo-commentary makes Alan Bloom seem engaging, which is really hard to do.
A coUgh. Tedious, full of false profundity. As literary criticism, this pseudo-commentary makes Alan Bloom seem engaging, which is really hard to do.
A couple of examples of the inanity...
page 102 "the disquieting possibility that there are stories that can have no ending." Why is that "disquieting?" Why not "exhilarating?" Isn't one of the great pleasures of reading, especially fiction, the endless possibilities that emerge out of an unresolved narrative?
page 112 "where chance or Fate [sic] (depending on how pessimistic or optimistic you are...)".
Ok so, I have no idea whether this suggests a correlation between pessimism and Fate or chance or between those same two notions as optimistic. Taking two antonyms and pairing them up with two closely related synonyms and suggesting one can make any sense out of the statement is sloppy at best.
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