2:10 a.m. After a couple of hours of sleep (less of an issue than I would have predicted ensconced here in my plywood cocoon), I awoke to find Hurricane Omar has strengthened to a blustery Category 3 storm (winds approaching...
October 16, 2008
What I am Reading
- E.O. Wilson: The Creation
This is the secular scientist's appeal to an unnamed Southern Baptist Minister to save the Earth. Wilson, a truly groundbreaking scientist and environmentalist coined the term "biophelia" for man's innate connection to nature. His book reads like a love letter. Especially wonderful is his tribute to the small and unseen flora and fauna. He puts forth powerful arguments why environmentalists should be just as concerned with ants, fungi, and neomotode worms as they are with the giant whales, intimidating tigers, and cuddly pandas. An important book for both the nature lover and the religous. (*****) - Michael Crichton: Next
Interesting more than good. Crichton, the prolific pop-scientist, creator of "ER", and advisor to the Bush Administration, explores genetic engineering in Next. He weaves together several stories set in the too-near futures, each of which demonstrates the thorny issues associated with genetic engineering. Unlike a typical Crichton, this one embraces an almost-Hiassenesque weirdness. I read it on a plane. Being stuck in a metal tube five miles above the surface of the earth is one of only a few good reasons for picking this one up. (*) - Michael Connelly: The Lincoln Lawyer
I was thinking that this year's NaNoWriMo book was going to be a legal thriller, so I figured that I would read a couple to get in the right mindset. In some ways, this present a very realistic picture of the criminal defense practice. While the plot is (of course) somewhat fantastic, the detail here is good. (***) - Jennifer Michael Hecht: The Happiness Myth
My second book by Hecht, who also authored the fantastic "Doubt." This is a history of happiness. A look at the ideas that have made us smile through the ages and how they stack up against what we seek today. A tribute to perspective. Also have to admit to a crush on Hecht, a philosopher and poet whose bookjacket photo conjures thoughts of an intellectual Rachael Ray. Okay, that was maybe a little weird. (*****) - Frank Rich: The Greatest Story Ever Sold
In the event that you somehow envision the Bush Administration as a paragon of truth and virtue, this might be good light reading as you wait for the lobotomy to begin. Rich, a longtime NYT theatre critic, focuses on the show business aspects of what will someday soon be regarded as the least of our Nation's leaders. (****)
