two great books, about 1) the present, 2) the future
I have stuff I wanna go do, like mail some eBay sales, but I haven't updated here in a while, and wanted to mention a couple things.
I read Where In The World Is Osama bin-Laden?, the book version of Morgan Spurlock's movie. (I also have his 30 Days series from the library, but haven't watched any yet.) I liked it a lot... and I think it is better than Super Size Me, in that... you really see the world! I mean, he talks to ALL different types of people across the world. This is the dialogue this world NEEDS right now!! I don't think Where In the World... had the same success as Super Size Me because... I think people preferred the Court Jester Spurlock, making fun of an easy target, fast food, whereas this project, right away in the title, it mentions terrorism and people (I think) really don't want to talk about or think about terrorism or the wars, because it's SO grating, dark, intimidating, and pessimistic. That's understandable. I've tried to tune it out a lot, too. I mean, 7 years is a long time to contemplate all of it... but I've taken up learning about Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. again (I'm going to read Rory Stewart's Iraq book soon, too; his Afghanistan travel book is great. I'm truly glad to say I've met him in person. The world needs Rory Stewarts in power positions, but I don't think it's possible because leaders are selfish bullshit artists to win elections, not clear-thinkers who want to solve problems), maybe because it's an election year.... I could say a lot about THAT... but, enough parentheses and asides!!
Spurlock's book is better than the companion book to Super Size Me, titled Don't Eat This Book!, because that one, once again, told you stuff you knew. You KNEW those fries, those burgers, those shakes, those sodas weren't good for you! You KNEW that companies shamelessly manipulate children through advertising; maybe it was cool that Spurlock showed examples where they clearly did this, but it was not new to you. Conversely, Where In The World Is Osama bin-Laden? includes the voices of people you'd NEVER see on American TV or in magazines: Palestinian farmers, teachers and students in Pakistani madrassas, young people in Parisian-Arab ghettos, people in Jordanian refugee ghettos, young people in Saudi Arabia who love the United States, a former head of Pakistani intelligence who worked with the US against Russia in Afghanistan but hates the United States, American officers in Afghanistan, a Israeli bomb squad worker, an ex-terrorist-turned-Bethlehem-tour-guide.... I could go on, and that is the strength of this book; it is thorough. It is a great eye-opener, and it is NOT AT ALL driven by the "talking points" of any narrow-viewed American cable news network or dumb-ass press secretary from the Bush administration!!!
You should read it just for that. Spurlock's jokes are, frankly, often obvious, and his commentary sporadically thought-provoking and sometimes dull, but the simple act of turning a mike to the faces of these people and asking, "What do you think...?" is a fantastic revelation, even if it only confirms, in the end, that there's alllll kinds of people out there.... which is sort of reassuring as well as scary.
Also, I'm re-reading Rudy Rucker's Saucer Wisdom, which is... a mediocre story, but an amazing meta-story. To quickly summarize Rudy: he's a mathematician who writes science-fiction, but with a lot of realism and intelligence. He's written some nonfiction too, such as a book on infinity principles (I bought it and tried to read it, and my head hurt), one great sci-fi book called Master of Space And Time that you should read before it's turned into a shitty movie with lots of awful CGI-effects, and yet more books. I learned about him via an interview in Forced Exposure, the rock mag I religiously read in the '80s that's focus was pretty much the underground of the underground, and the weirdest things out there (it's also where I discovered Jodorowsky... well, there, and Ebert and Siskel reviewing Santa Sangre favorably at a time when no one else was going to). Rudy even had a college-faculty punk band at one point (I believe it was called The Shaved Pigs?).
Okay, so why should you read Saucer Wisdom? Especially when I admit the dialog and some of the basic story points are corny at times? Because it shows speculation on the future of biotechnology, computing, communications, and all sorts of fantastic scientific advances that Rucker figures will be possible in 100 years, or 1000, and... it's all based in science, but it's all VERY crazy!! There's a lot of genetically-engineered things, houses made of plants and vegetables, disembodied cow tongues that clean the floor by licking them, telepathy and inter-personal telepathy/ empathy devices... in the latter, Rucker envisions a day when people can communicate via mind, actual mind-telepathy imagery and expression, transmitted all around the world.... you know, it's hard to summarize how far-out this book gets.
The story is- Rudy is approached by a weird guy, Frank Shook, who says he's been abducted by aliens who show him the future, and he wants Rudy to write a book about it... and, of course, Saucer Wisdom is the book. The meta-story- is all the things Frank tells Rudy, the speculative future. THAT is the great part. The story with Rudy and Frank, the things they say and do, are silly, fun, a bit corny at times.... but if you really want your mind expanded about how machines, technology, genetically-self-engineered-humans, and genetically-engineered animals and things might all come together in the year 3000 or later, this is The book.
Funnily enough, I've seen libraries list it as fiction (since it's a fictional alien-abduction/ conversations book) while others list it as non-fiction (since it speculates on future technologies based on logical, potentially-scientifically-explained processes and facts).
I read Where In The World Is Osama bin-Laden?, the book version of Morgan Spurlock's movie. (I also have his 30 Days series from the library, but haven't watched any yet.) I liked it a lot... and I think it is better than Super Size Me, in that... you really see the world! I mean, he talks to ALL different types of people across the world. This is the dialogue this world NEEDS right now!! I don't think Where In the World... had the same success as Super Size Me because... I think people preferred the Court Jester Spurlock, making fun of an easy target, fast food, whereas this project, right away in the title, it mentions terrorism and people (I think) really don't want to talk about or think about terrorism or the wars, because it's SO grating, dark, intimidating, and pessimistic. That's understandable. I've tried to tune it out a lot, too. I mean, 7 years is a long time to contemplate all of it... but I've taken up learning about Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. again (I'm going to read Rory Stewart's Iraq book soon, too; his Afghanistan travel book is great. I'm truly glad to say I've met him in person. The world needs Rory Stewarts in power positions, but I don't think it's possible because leaders are selfish bullshit artists to win elections, not clear-thinkers who want to solve problems), maybe because it's an election year.... I could say a lot about THAT... but, enough parentheses and asides!!
Spurlock's book is better than the companion book to Super Size Me, titled Don't Eat This Book!, because that one, once again, told you stuff you knew. You KNEW those fries, those burgers, those shakes, those sodas weren't good for you! You KNEW that companies shamelessly manipulate children through advertising; maybe it was cool that Spurlock showed examples where they clearly did this, but it was not new to you. Conversely, Where In The World Is Osama bin-Laden? includes the voices of people you'd NEVER see on American TV or in magazines: Palestinian farmers, teachers and students in Pakistani madrassas, young people in Parisian-Arab ghettos, people in Jordanian refugee ghettos, young people in Saudi Arabia who love the United States, a former head of Pakistani intelligence who worked with the US against Russia in Afghanistan but hates the United States, American officers in Afghanistan, a Israeli bomb squad worker, an ex-terrorist-turned-Bethlehem-tour-guide.... I could go on, and that is the strength of this book; it is thorough. It is a great eye-opener, and it is NOT AT ALL driven by the "talking points" of any narrow-viewed American cable news network or dumb-ass press secretary from the Bush administration!!!
You should read it just for that. Spurlock's jokes are, frankly, often obvious, and his commentary sporadically thought-provoking and sometimes dull, but the simple act of turning a mike to the faces of these people and asking, "What do you think...?" is a fantastic revelation, even if it only confirms, in the end, that there's alllll kinds of people out there.... which is sort of reassuring as well as scary.
Also, I'm re-reading Rudy Rucker's Saucer Wisdom, which is... a mediocre story, but an amazing meta-story. To quickly summarize Rudy: he's a mathematician who writes science-fiction, but with a lot of realism and intelligence. He's written some nonfiction too, such as a book on infinity principles (I bought it and tried to read it, and my head hurt), one great sci-fi book called Master of Space And Time that you should read before it's turned into a shitty movie with lots of awful CGI-effects, and yet more books. I learned about him via an interview in Forced Exposure, the rock mag I religiously read in the '80s that's focus was pretty much the underground of the underground, and the weirdest things out there (it's also where I discovered Jodorowsky... well, there, and Ebert and Siskel reviewing Santa Sangre favorably at a time when no one else was going to). Rudy even had a college-faculty punk band at one point (I believe it was called The Shaved Pigs?).
Okay, so why should you read Saucer Wisdom? Especially when I admit the dialog and some of the basic story points are corny at times? Because it shows speculation on the future of biotechnology, computing, communications, and all sorts of fantastic scientific advances that Rucker figures will be possible in 100 years, or 1000, and... it's all based in science, but it's all VERY crazy!! There's a lot of genetically-engineered things, houses made of plants and vegetables, disembodied cow tongues that clean the floor by licking them, telepathy and inter-personal telepathy/ empathy devices... in the latter, Rucker envisions a day when people can communicate via mind, actual mind-telepathy imagery and expression, transmitted all around the world.... you know, it's hard to summarize how far-out this book gets.
The story is- Rudy is approached by a weird guy, Frank Shook, who says he's been abducted by aliens who show him the future, and he wants Rudy to write a book about it... and, of course, Saucer Wisdom is the book. The meta-story- is all the things Frank tells Rudy, the speculative future. THAT is the great part. The story with Rudy and Frank, the things they say and do, are silly, fun, a bit corny at times.... but if you really want your mind expanded about how machines, technology, genetically-self-engineered-humans, and genetically-engineered animals and things might all come together in the year 3000 or later, this is The book.
Funnily enough, I've seen libraries list it as fiction (since it's a fictional alien-abduction/ conversations book) while others list it as non-fiction (since it speculates on future technologies based on logical, potentially-scientifically-explained processes and facts).