The Time Traveler's Wife (***--)
Niffenegger, Audrey
I have mixed feelings about this immensely popular novel. Let me start with what I liked --
I think it is one of the best examples of 4D storytelling. The narrative constantly travels in space and time. It happens where memories include not only the past, but also the future. As anyone familiar with time-travel books knows, this introduces huge logical problems. The author deals with it brilliantly, without confusing the readers. She deftly puts together a cohesive narrative where the protagonist constantly goes back and forth in time.
It is also unlike any other time travel book in two respects, which is a brilliant and innovative break from the usual. First, no machines are involved, and the time shifts happen spontaneously. Second, the time-traveler has no control over when it happens, and to a lesser extent, about the destination, even though the protagonist's will have something to do with it.
Now, what I did not like as much. The characters are too romanticized to be believable. While it is interesting to read about a fateful love, induced by time travel, I am probably too old to be thrilled by such a lifelong, intense love between two individuals. There is also a lot of unnecessary name-dropping of musicians, music, artists, and poets, as if the author is trying too hard.
The whole story takes place in and around Chicago, where I lived during the entire time span of the book. This familiarity was another personal attraction.
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds (*****)
Halliday, Thomas
"Otherlands" is an exquisite travel book, but it is not like any other travel book you have read before. The author, a scientist, takes us on a journey over 500 million years, stopping at different epochs and parts of the world. He beautifully describes the living things that populated that time and space, as if we are looking at the drama, hearing the sounds, feeling the wind on our skin, and smelling the air. Yet, it is not out of his imagination, but from what we have learnt from fossil records and the increasingly detailed analysis of the data left behind by these creatures.
As we travel through five major mass extinctions, which wiped out most of the living species, we cannot help but start wondering what the sixth extinction might look like, the one where we humans play a significant role. It teaches us not to think of any species in isolation, but as part of a complex ecosystem. It is not an alarmist book, and it is neither nostalgic. It shows nature as a constantly changing interdependent system, where extinctions are inevitable, not necessarily sad events. Yet, it makes us aware of the consequences of our actions and what we could do to influence them.
The only thing I cannot understand why the author decided to follow a reverse-chronological sequence, starting with the present time and gradually going back in time. I feel I would have enjoyed it much more if we started from the beginning of fossil records, 500 million years ago, and moved forward in time. Also, I would have preferred if he went further back in time and started from when life first appeared on the planet, or even before that. He did not want to include anything where no direct fossil records exist.
The Man from the Future: The Visionary Ideas of John von Neumann (****-)
Bhattacharya, Ananyo
When reading a biography, the first thing I try to avoid is when the author seems like a fan of the subject. Of course, anyone deciding to write a biography has to be impressed or appalled by the character. But when they become too impressed, they tend to lose their criticality.
The first few pages of this book gave me that impression. However, I held my judgment because who can avoid being bowled over by a genius like John von Neumann? I was eventually relieved when the author balanced awe and objective distancing. Neumann's military involvement and passion for the hydrogen bomb are particularly questionable, and the author dealt with them remarkably well.
The book successfully explores his range of interests and genius, which covers a wide range of subjects. In each case, he broke new ground or opened the door to new directions. It is not easy to explore such an astounding intellect.
What makes the book most remarkable is how it integrates scientific explanation into a biography. Readers can't understand and appreciate the life of scientists unless they have some idea of the science. Bhattacharya makes most of his science understandable. The book often strays away from the subject and follows other scientists, without which it would be hard to understand the progression of the ideas.
An excellent biography of an extraordinary intellect.
The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West (**---)
Karp, Alexander C.
It was mostly a waste of time. Although the subject is highly relevant to me, my views do not necessarily reflect those of the author. I knew that before reading this book, but I wanted to hear some strong arguments from this nationalistic perspective. However, the book is poorly argued, and the research supporting the claims is cherry-picked. I'm itching to express my disagreements, but I don't think it will be a good use of my time. Sorry to raise an issue and not follow up on that.
James (****-)
Everett, Percival
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had been a favorite of mine since my childhood. Breaking my own rule of never rereading books I liked as a child, as the results are often disappointing, I recently reread the series. I still enjoyed it, even though certain sections seemed a little incredulous.
I was excited to hear someone tried to revisit the story from a different perspective, but I was also a bit nervous. I was wrong. This is a thoroughly engrossing read. As a story, it is simply unputdownable. The author cleverly avoided the weakest portions of the original plot and reinvented new plot lines that are not only more believable but also more relevant to modern readers.
The best part of the book is that it introduces the idea that some slaves maintained a dual identity — one to reinforce their master's perception, but also a "normal" human identity when they were not being watched. For example, contrary to the general belief that James cannot read or write, we come to know of his love of books and knowledge, which he kept hidden. While this is a brilliant idea, I was a bit disappointed that the author had to double underline it to ensure readers understood. It was enough to know that James read books, but was it necessary to make him quote great philosophical texts? It sounds a bit contrived when someone without formal education comes to understand and fall in love with some of the most complex and challenging pieces of text.
I particularly enjoyed the gradual transformation of James' political attitude from one of acceptance of the reality in which he existed to one of revolt. The end remains open-ended, but the seed is sown that the civil war did not end slavery, and the struggle continues.
The Line of Beauty (***--)
Hollinghurst, Alan
Last month, I read Alan Hollinghurst's "Our Evening". That was my first experience of reading his work, and I was mesmerized by his acute observations. However, what attracted me more was to see the world through the eyes of a young gay person, a perspective I can never experience myself. Therefore, I wanted to read an earlier work that earned him the Booker Prize twenty years ago.
I was a bit disappointed since this novel is thematically very similar to his latest work. In both cases, we follow a young person who is discovering their homosexuality and exploring their sexuality. Moreover, in both cases, this young man comes close to an affluent and aristocratic family. After reading both, I believe he shows far greater mastery as a writer in his latest novel. I wish I had read them in the opposite order.
Abundance (***-)
Klein, Ezra
The title of this book made me hesitant as it suggested yet another TED-like techno-optimist thesis about why we are inevitably heading towards an abundant future of clean and plentiful energy, long life spans, short but satisfying work weeks, and the end of poverty. Not that I entirely disagree with that way of thinking, but in the current state of the world, it is hard to be a wide-eyed optimist. The world of real politics is far from what is possible, and the paths are diverging.
.
The book does not offer any simplistic solution. On the contrary, it explains why the world is so much more complex, especially when it comes to national policies. It describes how, in the US policy history, some of the well-meaning liberal policies eventually backfired in the long run.
To give an example, it talks about how progressive policies after the great depression triggered the housing boom that allowed many in the middle class to own their first homes. However, when your home becomes your most significant investment, it is natural for homeowners to expect their property to grow in value continuously. This can only happen when there is a shortage of supply. Policies to protect the middle class introduced zoning laws, which made it impossible to build multi-unit living spaces next to single-family homes. City-like living arrangements are proven to be far more efficient in terms of environment, productivity, transportation, and energy, but the suburban sprawl was a direct result of the policies that were created to help the middle class in the 50s and 60s.
A large section describes why the USA is struggling to make fundamental scientific and technological breakthroughs. There was a time when doing high-risk, high-return research was one of the country's strengths, but over time, hordes of bureaucratic processes, which were all created with good intentions by policymakers on both sides of the political spectrum, eventually made the academic and private research apparatus risk-averse and slow.
After discussing many such policy mistakes, it points out how many of our biggest challenges can be met with what we already know or within the reach of current technologies, but it will require significant changes in current policies. The authors are optimistic that the current crisis we are heading towards may act as a trigger. Just as the Great Depression, WWII, and the rise of Soviet space science once acted as triggers to rethink policies and priorities, the same may happen again. I am far less sure, but recognizing the mistakes can never go to waste.
Our Evenings (****-)
Hollinghurst, Alan
This is my first experience of reading anything by Alan Hollinghurst, and I am spellbound by his writing style. His prose is as smooth as any writing can be. His observations and his attention to little details are mesmerizing.
Very little happens in this novel that spans the entire life of a British actor with a Burmese father, whom he has never met, and his dress-making mother. Yet, the story is spectacular in its ordinariness. The protagonist is an acute observer of life's little details, and it is these minute observations that draw the readers in. We get to see the world through a person whose otherness is omnipresent throughout his life. He goes to a public school through a scholarship, but encounters class discrimination. He is seen as a person of color in his acting career. We experience his emergence as a queer person.
If reading is seeing the world through other people's eyes, then this is a book you should not miss.
Enlightenment (***--)
Perry, Sarah
Some books are good, but don't knock you off your feet. Yet, at a personal level, they may resonate deeply. This is one such book. I picked it because it was longlisted for last year's Booker prize, and because I was unimpressed by the winner and wanted to know what else was there. In my opinion, this and a few others on the list deserved the prize over "Orbital".
The story unfolds over twenty years. It tells us about several loving relationships that never fully bloom. Sometimes it is between a mysterious Romanian woman astronomer from the nineteenth century and an unknown person who only comes to us through her letters. Sometimes it is between two people where one of them could never even tell the other person about his feelings. There is a love story between a boy and a girl, that only results in pain. Yet, despite all these failed loves, one truth emerges -- the most profound aspect of love is in the act of giving, and the purest form of giving is when you expect very little in return.
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