[Book Reviews] Zen, Celts, manufacture, rebel gardening, capitalism, and Indian epics
Despite not being particularly struck by "Not Always So", I'm really glad that I read more of Shunryu Suzuki's recorded speeches. "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" is one of the most powerful books on Zen I've ever read. Unassuming and anecdotal, it nevertheless managed to give me one of the biggest and most needed kicks to perspective I've had in my adult life. It's a self-referential discourse on mindfulness and living deliberately. While I'm not sure that my sitting practice will be improved by having read it, I found a whole lot to think about for the rest of the time when I'm paying attention. As with my lack of ping to "Not Always So", I find it hard to articulate why this book worked for me, and hesitate to say whether it would do the same for anyone else. Nevertheless, I found it a profound, everyday, and satisfying read. Five half-full dippers out of five.
I also enjoyed Nora Chadwick's "The Celts" (on loan from rialian, though I will eventually get my own copy). I was a big fan of her essay on imbas forosnai, and so was delighted to see that she'd written more. As this was a relatively early book on Celtic culture, art, and archaeology, there have been several subsequent discoveries that have shifted the landscape and fleshed out some of the theories discussed herein, and it's not the most up-to-date work of scholarship. Nevertheless, it remains a good broad-brush introduction, and a valuable window of insight into the evolution of scholarly thought about the Celts, with many little points of interest therein. Three and a half happy-hilted swords out of five.
Also interesting (and also from rialian) was "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things". The authors' intent with the book is sound and delightful -- they work with manufacturers to make the design and manufacturing process sustainable and ecologically friendly by allowing products at the end of their life-cycle to be either turned into nutrient-friendly ecosystem food or into products of similar quality. They advocate this as a design approach superior to our current takes on recycling, which they believe to be inefficient and suboptimal. I can totally get behind that, and their focus on cost-effective ecological manufacturing also draws interest from the corporate world. I do think that they often overstate their case... I don't think every manufacturing process can or will fit their model, though I'd love to be proven wrong about that. They also have an anti-regulatory tone that I suspect to be destructively optimistic, though again, I would love to be wrong. Still, they have some wonderful ideas about design, and I hope they're wildly successful. Three and a half nontoxic inks out of five.
I was not so fond of "Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto", though I had expected to be in significant agreement with the author's sympathies. The book is about gardening in urban spaces that one doesn't own. Sometimes these are public spaces (the center of traffic circles, highway medians, strips of land alongside sidewalks), sometimes other peoples' property (generally vacant lots owned by developers). While I have been known to plant a public tree or two (usually in volunteer civic work parties), the author's attempts at breezy "rebel" style writing came off to me as smug, self-congratulatory, and at times flat-out arrogant. There was one point where he said that you weren't *exactly* stealing or messing with other peoples' land, you were just helping them achieve goals that they didn't know they had yet. WTF, not okay. And then he tells you to rent wire cutters and make holes in peoples' fences. I'd be livid if he came by and high-handedly planted things on my land without so much as a by-your-leave. Planting trees and flowers in abandoned vacant lots is one thing, but he goes way too far. And while he does give lip service to not planting invasives and knowing the environment that you're introducing organisms to, he promptly seems to chuck that out in some of his specifically featured plants. "Don't plant invasives! Plant Boston Ivy, not Virginia Creeper!" Um. I really wanted to be on his side, but his tactics and sense of entitlement quickly lost my sympathy. I did learn the right kind of file to get to sharpen a shovel, but that's about it. One and a half angry liberals out of five.
Ticking me off from the other side of the ideological spectrum, I am becoming decreasingly fond of Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series. Please not to be clubbing me over the head with OMG How Great Capitalism And Libertarianism Are OMG, and just write a good story. "The Clan Corporate" is a builder book, clearly setting the frame for the next book in the series. Unfortunately, that means that not much happens here, and we get to follow our feisty heroine around while she does... er, not much. Gets mad at the feudal system. Sits in a house. Frets about her business interests, which she's not allowed to touch while her noble rich family contemplates marrying her off. Squabbles. Frets some more, while her relatives shoot guns at the range. Sits in the house. Doesn't feudalism suck? Well, yes, it does, but that hasn't made for a very interesting book. One scene of OMG blow stuff up OMG does not make up for a whole book of house-sitting monotony -- it's like the "mucking around in tents" part of Harry Potter 7. I hope that in the next book, Miriam at least does something interesting with her business interests, or starts winning at feudal politics. Again -- I really *wanted* to get behind the active businesswoman lead character. I did. I liked the first two books in the series, because she was *doing* something. But any more ideological head-clubbing, and I might ditch the series. One and a half annoyed libertarians out of five.
After all that grr, I was very grateful for Ashok Banker's "Armies of Hanuman", the fourth in his epic retelling of the Ramayana. (I'll be so sad when I've finished it!) Wonderfully told, richly detailed, stately in its pacing, complex and thought-provoking in its characterization, this is one of the best modern tellings of a classic tale that I've read in years. This book follows Rama, his wife Sita, and his loyal brother through the end of their exile, their battle against the rakshasa demons, and the re-incarnation of Rama's great enemy, the rakshasa Lord of Lanka. I love the author's consistent use of Indian terminology -- it ties it back to the original source, while context makes the usage clear for the non-Indian reader. They're educational as well as being a phenomenal story.
I am somewhat conflicted about the author's stance, which I just recently discovered -- he tells American and UK readers to buy the Indian editions of his books (which I have not yet found online) or not to bother at all, as he was unhappy with the genre classification and other editorial details in the US and UK editions. I want to respect his wishes, but I also really love the story and don't want to give it up. And while I can totally respect his desire to make this Indian classic accessible to other Indians, I felt a little slapped by the "I didn't write it for *you*" tone of his statement. I didn't assume that he had, but one of the hallmarks of a great story is its power to speak to people of many backgrounds. I do think he is telling a great story, in retelling this major literary epic. I am sad that he prefers to restrict its scope to the nation which gave it birth when it also speaks so eloquently to the rest of the world.
Insert flamewar about privilege in comments below. [rueful grin] Five sad pandas out of five.
I also enjoyed Nora Chadwick's "The Celts" (on loan from rialian, though I will eventually get my own copy). I was a big fan of her essay on imbas forosnai, and so was delighted to see that she'd written more. As this was a relatively early book on Celtic culture, art, and archaeology, there have been several subsequent discoveries that have shifted the landscape and fleshed out some of the theories discussed herein, and it's not the most up-to-date work of scholarship. Nevertheless, it remains a good broad-brush introduction, and a valuable window of insight into the evolution of scholarly thought about the Celts, with many little points of interest therein. Three and a half happy-hilted swords out of five.
Also interesting (and also from rialian) was "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things". The authors' intent with the book is sound and delightful -- they work with manufacturers to make the design and manufacturing process sustainable and ecologically friendly by allowing products at the end of their life-cycle to be either turned into nutrient-friendly ecosystem food or into products of similar quality. They advocate this as a design approach superior to our current takes on recycling, which they believe to be inefficient and suboptimal. I can totally get behind that, and their focus on cost-effective ecological manufacturing also draws interest from the corporate world. I do think that they often overstate their case... I don't think every manufacturing process can or will fit their model, though I'd love to be proven wrong about that. They also have an anti-regulatory tone that I suspect to be destructively optimistic, though again, I would love to be wrong. Still, they have some wonderful ideas about design, and I hope they're wildly successful. Three and a half nontoxic inks out of five.
I was not so fond of "Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto", though I had expected to be in significant agreement with the author's sympathies. The book is about gardening in urban spaces that one doesn't own. Sometimes these are public spaces (the center of traffic circles, highway medians, strips of land alongside sidewalks), sometimes other peoples' property (generally vacant lots owned by developers). While I have been known to plant a public tree or two (usually in volunteer civic work parties), the author's attempts at breezy "rebel" style writing came off to me as smug, self-congratulatory, and at times flat-out arrogant. There was one point where he said that you weren't *exactly* stealing or messing with other peoples' land, you were just helping them achieve goals that they didn't know they had yet. WTF, not okay. And then he tells you to rent wire cutters and make holes in peoples' fences. I'd be livid if he came by and high-handedly planted things on my land without so much as a by-your-leave. Planting trees and flowers in abandoned vacant lots is one thing, but he goes way too far. And while he does give lip service to not planting invasives and knowing the environment that you're introducing organisms to, he promptly seems to chuck that out in some of his specifically featured plants. "Don't plant invasives! Plant Boston Ivy, not Virginia Creeper!" Um. I really wanted to be on his side, but his tactics and sense of entitlement quickly lost my sympathy. I did learn the right kind of file to get to sharpen a shovel, but that's about it. One and a half angry liberals out of five.
Ticking me off from the other side of the ideological spectrum, I am becoming decreasingly fond of Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series. Please not to be clubbing me over the head with OMG How Great Capitalism And Libertarianism Are OMG, and just write a good story. "The Clan Corporate" is a builder book, clearly setting the frame for the next book in the series. Unfortunately, that means that not much happens here, and we get to follow our feisty heroine around while she does... er, not much. Gets mad at the feudal system. Sits in a house. Frets about her business interests, which she's not allowed to touch while her noble rich family contemplates marrying her off. Squabbles. Frets some more, while her relatives shoot guns at the range. Sits in the house. Doesn't feudalism suck? Well, yes, it does, but that hasn't made for a very interesting book. One scene of OMG blow stuff up OMG does not make up for a whole book of house-sitting monotony -- it's like the "mucking around in tents" part of Harry Potter 7. I hope that in the next book, Miriam at least does something interesting with her business interests, or starts winning at feudal politics. Again -- I really *wanted* to get behind the active businesswoman lead character. I did. I liked the first two books in the series, because she was *doing* something. But any more ideological head-clubbing, and I might ditch the series. One and a half annoyed libertarians out of five.
After all that grr, I was very grateful for Ashok Banker's "Armies of Hanuman", the fourth in his epic retelling of the Ramayana. (I'll be so sad when I've finished it!) Wonderfully told, richly detailed, stately in its pacing, complex and thought-provoking in its characterization, this is one of the best modern tellings of a classic tale that I've read in years. This book follows Rama, his wife Sita, and his loyal brother through the end of their exile, their battle against the rakshasa demons, and the re-incarnation of Rama's great enemy, the rakshasa Lord of Lanka. I love the author's consistent use of Indian terminology -- it ties it back to the original source, while context makes the usage clear for the non-Indian reader. They're educational as well as being a phenomenal story.
I am somewhat conflicted about the author's stance, which I just recently discovered -- he tells American and UK readers to buy the Indian editions of his books (which I have not yet found online) or not to bother at all, as he was unhappy with the genre classification and other editorial details in the US and UK editions. I want to respect his wishes, but I also really love the story and don't want to give it up. And while I can totally respect his desire to make this Indian classic accessible to other Indians, I felt a little slapped by the "I didn't write it for *you*" tone of his statement. I didn't assume that he had, but one of the hallmarks of a great story is its power to speak to people of many backgrounds. I do think he is telling a great story, in retelling this major literary epic. I am sad that he prefers to restrict its scope to the nation which gave it birth when it also speaks so eloquently to the rest of the world.
Insert flamewar about privilege in comments below. [rueful grin] Five sad pandas out of five.