I've read a number of books and recently (and some not so
recently), and I figured I'd do some quick writeups.
First up: China Miéville's Un
Lun Dun. This is Miéville's first novel aimed at young
adult readers. He acknowledges his inspirations in the
acknowledgements, including Neil Gaiman, who seems to hover over the
first third of the book like some inverted Marley's ghost. Once past
that part (mostly setup and exposition), though, Miéville hits
his stride, and so does the book.
The story follows two London girls, Zanna and Deeba, who find
themselves drawn into an alternate city, UnLondon (which has
counterparts Parisn't, No York, Lost Angeles, and Romeless). Zanna,
it seems, is the Shwazee (a bastardization of choisee,
the Chosen One), who, it is prophesied, will save UnLondon from great
evil.
At some point, this neat standard alternate-world urban fantasy
goes off the smoothly greased rails, the Gaiman hommage
dissipates some, and things get really interesting.
Favorite bit: animals apparently can move back and forth between
London and UnLondon at will (so they all stare at Zanna, 'cause, you
know, she's the Shwazee); all except cats, who it turns out are really
stupid and only care about looking cool, not about anything like the
survival of the world against great evil. Oh, and watch the
giraffes.
Least favorite bit: the pun magic. It's funny once, but as a
system of the world, it can get infuriating if it's not deftly
handled. I felt a bit bludgeoned by it in the first third of Un
Lun Dun, but it got better later.
Bottom line: recommended.
Spring
Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. I had bought
this last year, but finally got it off my shelf last weekend, while
grumbling about the stupidity of moving the daylight-savings-time
shift date.
The book is basically a light history of Daylight Saving Time
(note: not Daylight Savings Time -- it's a timekeeping
that, when in effect, is saving daylight, not banking savings of
daylight).
The most obvious bizarrity of the story is the sheer number of
different political players that have pushed for (or against) DST
changes to benefit themselves. Obvious candidates: the New York
Stock Exchange, which kept NYC doing Daylight Saving Time so they
would have an hour of overlap with the London Stock Exchange (London
later returned the favor, resisting Double-Summer time); the candy
manufacturers, who wanted DST to start in November, so that Halloween
would stay light later (they got their wish in this latest round);
farmers (often blamed for DST although they in fact resisted it
mightily); golfers; and Richard Nixon (who imposed year-round DST in
1973/1974 -- I vividly remember my mom driving my brother and sister
to school [and me to preschool] in the dark; now I actually know
why).
Perhaps the most vivid thing about the book is that it illustrates
how insane timekeeping was (and still is) in the US and around the
world. If nothing else, computers have made it effectively impossible
to go back on that. I hope.
Bottom line: recommended for anyone who is interested in little
corners of history.
The
Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. I am a fan of Johnson's blog, and
this book doesn't disappoint. It's a retelling of the classic urban
planning story about stopping a cholera epidemic in London, with the
legend teased apart, explained, and expanded.
It's not for the delicate of stomach (London in 1854 was apparently
a really disgusting place), but it's a fascinating story, and Johnson
has an ear for illuminating anecdotes to go along with and illustrate
the main story.
My only real complaint is that the book seems a bit loose -- like
it's not sure whether to be a straight forward detective story or a
day-by-day history or what. That's minor, though.
Bottom line: recommended for anyone interested in cities.
I read 1491:
New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C.
Mann last year, and was mightily impressed. I just picked up the
paperback version (having given my hardback copy to a friend), which
includes a new afterword. I re-read the first and last chapters again
for good measure.
This is a fascinating book, and an exemplar of the "passionate
amateur synthesis" genre. It puts together 50-60 years of research in
varied fields (mostly New World Archaeology) and paints a compelling
picture of North and South America before the collision with European
culture (and most importantly, its germs).
If there's any criticism I have of the book, it's that it doesn't
label as well as it might which presentations are established facts,
which are well-established and widely-accepted theories, and which are
contentious hypotheses. (It does do some of that, but it's hard to
tell if it does enough.)
Overall, though, it's a fascinating and mind-blowing picture of
North and South America filled with tens (if not hundreds) of millions
of people, with highly complex civilizations that were wiped off the
map by smallpox and other virulent diseases that the invading
Europeans were more immune to. These were civilizations that are only
now coming to light because (a) by the time settlers made it into the
center of the continent, the civilizations had long since collapsed
and been overgrown; and (b) Indians Are Noble Savages, don't you
know?
The sheer scale of the societies that existed in the Americas
before Columbus's voyages is amazing. Anyone interested in humanity
should read this book. Anyone interested in SF should find this
fascinating from the standpoint of first contact situations. The
"what if" stories or obvious and multitudinous. What if the
indigenous Americans had been more disease resistant? (A couple
hundred guys with guns will only go so far against millions of
well-armed warriors with longbows -- see also Jared
Diamond's Collapse, specifically the section where he talks
about the Vikings who landed in Labrador and tried to get a foothold
-- they ran off, basically saying "Stay away! Those guys are fierce,
and dangerous, and don't want us there!"). What if there had been
endemic disease in the Americas that had gone back to Europe and
spread across the "Old World" as pandemically as smallpox did in the
"New World"? I leave other scenarios as an exercise for the
reader.
Bottom line: highly recommended.
To summarize:
| Object | Artist | Rating (out of 5 stars) |
|---|
| Un Lun Dun | China Miéville | 4.0 |
| Spring Forward | Michael Downing | 3.9 |
| The Ghost Map | Steven Johnson | 4.5 |
| 1491 | Charles C. Mann | 4.9 |
