Recently read books

I finished reading a few books recently. What follows are my thoughts on some of them. 

Last Exit (by Michael Kaufman) 

A novel set in a somewhat dystopian future, in which old people are expected to choose to 'exit' / die as a bargain for their children's well-being. Young to middle-aged adults are often stricken with a disease which leads to premature death, and there is a treatment available for it, but only if the person's parent chose to 'exit'. The story follows a police officer who is investigating a string of deaths which seem to be related to a unofficial variant of the treatment. A good novel but not amazing. I enjoyed it.

The Pencil (by Henry Petroski)

This book is about the history of the pencil, its development, and its relationship to the economy over the centuries. I skimmed some of the less interesting parts of the book, but read most of it. I like pencils so I liked learning how pencils came to be what they are today. This book is probably only interesting if you like history, pencils or engineering. 

Granite Mountain (by Brendan McDonough, with Stephan Talty)

A biographical account by Brendan about his upbringing and his time with the Granite Mountain Hotshots. I found this book to be engaging and easy to read. I was interested to learn how weather conditions, flora and terrain can affect the development of wildland fires. If you liked the movie Only the Brave, then you might like this book.

Review: God Emperor of Dune

The God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert is the fourth novel in the Dune series. It follows on from Children of Dune, in which Paul Atreides' son Leto II, takes up the responsibility of the Golden Path. A prescient vision of the future, in which great sacrifices and decisions must be made over the span of thousands of years so that humanity can be saved from extinction. This novel reveals the latter period of Leto II's reign as the tyrannical God Emperor, whose long life is made possible because of his binding with the sand trout at the end of the preceding book. 

I made two attempts to read this novel. The first was nearly a year ago, at which time I only read about a third of the story. I honestly found it boring and tedious to read. But a few weeks ago I decided to continue from where I left off. This time I found the story easier to engage with. By the time I had read approximately half of the book I was hooked. 

The further into the story I went, the more I appreciated the various journal entries between chapters, and the philosophical insights from Leto II during his many conversations. The insights were crafted by Frank Herbert decades ago, but they seem relevant for today. For a work of fiction it sometimes seems prophetic. 

One of my favourite quotes is, "What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking - there's the real danger." 

It's easy to extrude something pithy sounding from that quote and project it onto the technological struggles of today. With a little imagination I can see how our careless and reflexive use of the internet might seem related. As useful as the internet can be, it's when we use it without thought, intent or focus that we run into problems. 

Eventually this novel became a real page-turner, but it took a long time getting there. It is not as accessible as the first two books in the series. Instead it feels a little more challenging, similar to Children of Dune. But if you made it through the preceding books in the series and you want to see how things continue, then I would recommend reading God Emperor of Dune. Just be patient with it. 

Final score: 3.5 / 5

Review: The Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz. Just go and read it. I mean it. It's not often that I could honestly recommend a book to everyone, but here is a rare exception. The content of this book would stand to benefit everyone. Barry approaches the matter of choices in our lives from a variety of angles, and they all point to an important theme - while some degree of choice is needed for us to feel happy, too much choice tends to make us unhappy. Anyone who lives in a relatively wealthy part of the world, in which supermarkets and stores abound with a baffling amount of things for sale, would benefit from reading what Barry has to say in this book. 

Most of us tend to think that we are rational decision-makers, and the pressure of marketing doesn't sway our choices, but the truth is that we are usually wrong about it. Our lives are an ongoing series of choices, and this book highlights how easy it is to act against our own best interests and remaining ignorant while doing so. Barry also makes some useful suggestions for us to tackle the problems of choice.

Final score: 4.5 / 5

Review: The Light Years

The Light Years, by R. W. W. Greene, is a dystopian science fiction novel which I finished reading yesterday. It was thoroughly enjoyable. 

The story is set in a future in which humanity has fled to the stars and colonised several planets. Societies have continued to deteriorate as the schism between rich people and poor people keeps expanding. Most people live out their lives planet side, but others find work in space and spend most of their lives onboard spaceships travelling between the planets at speeds nearing that of light itself. The novel is presented from the perspective of two main characters, told in alternating chapters. One character, Adem, he is a space trader. The other is Hisako, and she isn't even born at the start of the book. And yet they have been arranged to be married when she is an adult. At first it seems bizarre even though the reader is made aware of the impact of relativity. But as the motives of each character's parents are made clear, it's easy to understand why such a marriage would be sought.

As the story progresses we see Hisako go through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, all while Adem barely ages. As both characters struggle with the internal conflict of the arranged marriage individually, we see the various worlds change around them. Families, people and neighbourhoods come and go in a short span of time for the spacers. But thanks to some excellent storytelling, I never felt that their lives were insignificant; if anything, it made their fleeting lives seem even more valuable. And when Adem and Hisako eventually meet, which is on their wedding day, this novels starts to feel like a good romance novel in which I really wanted the best for the two main characters. 

There are a lot of interesting themes and feelings that came up while reading this book. I won't go into more detail, because I think it's best if you feel the full weight of those emotions as you discover the story for yourself.

Final score: 4 / 5

Review: The Great Depression - A Diary

The Great Depression - A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. I decided it was time to learn something about the Great Depression, and this book is what I went with. Roth was a lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio. From the market crash in 1929 he started to write a diary. His entries describe the local, domestic and international events. Observations range from the shopping habits of everyday people, stock market movements, political news, and everything in between. Over the span of the book he paints a vivid picture about what life was like in America from 1929 to the conflict of WW2 reaching Hawaii. Roth continued to make diary entries for the rest of his life, but this book doesn't cover that latter timeframe. 

Reading about the severity of The Great Depression was shocking. I hadn't studied anything about that period of history, and my encounter with this first-hand look at it was revealing. The levels of scarcity, unemployment, and malnutrition were hard to imagine. The fortunes that many people lost along the way were equally horrifying. This book sheds light on a lot of details and challenges of the time. 

While reading this book I reflected upon the challenges faced in our present time. Here in Australia we have many people struggling with the cost of living, and a lack of affordable housing. And as tough as things are these days, they pale in comparison to what life was like during The Great Depression. In a way, it was comforting to read the book, knowing that life these days could be an awful lot worse. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to read about The Great Depression. It might also appeal to diary or journal enthusiasts. This book provides a view of world changing events, but through the eyes of the individual. 

Final score: 4 / 5

Review: Dirt Music

I just finished reading the novel Dirt Music, written by Tim Winton. I have enjoyed a couple of his other novels - The Shepherd's Hut, and Eyrie. I particularly liked Eyrie, and I might have read it twice but I'm not sure though. Anyway, I'll put Dirt Music right up there with Eyrie.

In the three novels that I've read by Tim Winton, I'm always enchanted by two things - the landscapes, and the male characters. 

The landscapes and locations that he writes about always seem to transport me to them. The way he describes those places makes them feel like they belong to some faded memory of my past. They feel lived in, a little sad, but leave me with a sense of longing for some place that I've never been. 

The men that he creates for his books feel relatable, often in shameful ways. They're not perfect; not even close. But that makes them feel realistic. The men in Tim's novels feel like they're from a bygone era. A time when men were men, but not quite fitting into a world of changing sensibilities. These guys feel truly human. 

Dirt Music covers a lot of bases. There's romance, tragedy, emotional and literal journeys. The locations are beautiful, but the people... not so much, and that's a good thing. Their pasts, their flaws, their raw humanity is what makes them relatable. If I had read it on Kindle I would have highlighted numerous segments of artful prose, many of which could stand on their own. But this was borrowed from a library so I wasn't about to deface the book with highlights or underlines. 

If you have never read one of Tim Winton's novels then I would say that Dirt Music might be a good one to start with. I really liked this novel. The ending was clever, but it also left me craving a little more certainty about what future might lay ahead for its characters. 

Final score: 4 / 5

Review: The Last of Us (season 1)

I recently saw that my local library had The Last of Us, season one, on DVD. I hadn't played the games. I had no idea what the story was about, other than it was some kind of post-apocalyptic tale. And to be honest, a story set in a bleak future of a world gone wrong is enough reason for me to take a look. But I'd also heard that the show was good, so I borrowed it without hesitation and I'm glad that I did.

For those that don't know, the show follows the characters of Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey). Pre-apocalypse, Joel is a construction contractor and father, going through each day like any other until the world starts going to heck in a handbasket. Years later, Joel meets Ellie and their circumstances turn them into travelling companions in this strange and desperate new world. At first they're at odds with each other, but as they brave some staggering challenges together the two of them grow to care about each other. In a troubled world with troubled people, the trust they build with each other proves valuable beyond measure.

This show got a lot of things right in the initial exposition. I was hooked within the first 15 minutes or so of the first episode. I'm probably not giving too much away to say that the storyline's apocalypse is of the zombie variety. But the zombies here are given a fresh take; their origin and how they infect others is not your typical fare. And this allows for the onset of doomsday to be gradual and almost organic. The crashed cars, riots, and eventual military involvement creeps up on the population somewhat. I really liked this approach to building the apocalypse. 

By the end of the season I realised that there wasn't a single dull episode; each one was a treasure in itself. I can't give this season a perfect score, because I feel that the ending was a little off. But overall I would definitely recommend watching this show. 

Final score: 4 / 5