March Reading Thread

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Parson said:
I wanted to make a joke saying something like: "This sounds like Mary's retelling of the incarnation." But I wondered if maybe this was something besides what I expected to be a high-brow novel and it most assuredly was.

I'll be interested to hear what you thought of it. I was not impressed when I learned that David Lewis-Williams calls himself a cognitive archaeologist. I find archaeology to be fascinatingly and I read a bit of it. But I'm always very leery of people who think that they can get inside someone else's head and say what significance a probably religious object had to its creator and/or user. Understanding what someone thinks or believes is tricky enough when you are in communication. Understanding someone's thinking over the centuries and across cultures has got to be iffy in the extreme.
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If anyone is able to understand, articulate and present a cultural history of religion, it's this exceptional author. His works The Mind In The Cave and Inside The Neolithic Mind are in my view outstanding. Speculation doesn't have to be "just" speculation, it can be highly informed. I think he's one of the greats of our time.
 
Dave Vicks said:
Currently Erich Fromm TO HAVE OR TO BE?
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One of the all-time greats!
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To Have Or To Be? by Erich Fromm

For thirty years Erich Fromm has been a major influence in my life. In my twenties I discovered his many extraordinary books, most of which, like The Sane Society, were formative influences. His ma…
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Stephen Palmer said:
PS.
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The Mind In The Cave by David Lewis-Williams

David Lewis-Williams’ The Mind In The Cave is one of a number of attempts to imagine the psychology and condition of our prehistoric ancestors – and it’s one of the best. Though Steven Mithen’s The…
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Nice Review. It felt very insightful to me. I will grant that for me the idea of gaining insight from modern stone age cultures has some merit. I also appreciated that you made clear the limit to which something like this could be seen as authoritative. I am not intrigued enough to read it. I doubt my skepticism about reading human belief backwards from scant evidence could be overcome.
 
Just read Agatha Christie’s Hickory Dickory Dock. A superior Poirot, I enjoyed this.

Now starting Orbitsville, by Bob Shaw.
 
Read: The Builders by Daniel Polansky
This is dark fantasy, western (sort of), revenge novella where all the characters are talking animals. The “cute”, fuzzy mouse, mole, opossum, salamander, badger, owl and stoat are anything but cute – they are downright violet. The story started ok, with fast pacing, decent writing and interesting characters, including hidden traitors and a Captain out for revenge… but the ending was pointless, and the whole story thus disappointing and rather empty.

Also read: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. The "court room" drama section was entertaining.

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I finally finished Neal Asher's Jack Four, which i found to be customarily good, even if it did take a long time to finish.

Next up is John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society.

51Jh-doMBtL.jpg

I'm trying to bootstrap myself into reading and looking for something light. Hopefully, this will be an easy read.
 
Parson said:
Nice Review. It felt very insightful to me. I will grant that for me the idea of gaining insight from modern stone age cultures has some merit. I also appreciated that you made clear the limit to which something like this could be seen as authoritative. I am not intrigued enough to read it. I doubt my skepticism about reading human belief backwards from scant evidence could be overcome.
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That's fair enough, it's not for everyone. I feel I myself have to make the attempt as part of synthesising many strands of what it is to be human. It's crucial in my view to do this to gain the best description possible of who and what we are, which, necessarily, includes evolution. An explanation for spirituality and religion therefore has to be part of this. Robin Dunbar's new book was really insightful btw.
 
Stephen Palmer said:
That's fair enough, it's not for everyone. I feel I myself have to make the attempt as part of synthesising many strands of what it is to be human. It's crucial in my view to do this to gain the best description possible of who and what we are, which, necessarily, includes evolution. An explanation for spirituality and religion therefore has to be part of this. Robin Dunbar's new book was really insightful btw.
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I assume you are talking about his book: "How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures." A book which is a bit more intriguing to me. But I'd assume that he leaves no room for the possibility that there might be something true about the basis of religion, and that someday when we are sufficiently evolved we will lose our need for religion. If he leaves room for the possibility of a First Mover/God I might consider reading it.
 
Tonight I'm having a go at an anthology by Maurice Walsh.
The Quiet Man and other stories.
(the one that the John Wayne film was based on)
 
Parson said:
I assume you are talking about his book: "How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures." A book which is a bit more intriguing to me. But I'd assume that he leaves no room for the possibility that there might be something true about the basis of religion, and that someday when we are sufficiently evolved we will lose our need for religion. If he leaves room for the possibility of a First Mover/God I might consider reading it.
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I highly recommend Dunbar's book. He, like me and David Lewis-Williams, have no truck whatsoever with the "reality" of spirituality et al.
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How Religion Evolved by Robin Dunbar

Buying this was a no-brainer for me – the right subject, a favourite author. The book is readable, plausible and enjoyable. In ten chapters Dunbar covers his ground, pointing out at the begin…
stephenpalmersf.wordpress.com stephenpalmersf.wordpress.com
 
I just finished  City, a series of short stories by Clifford Simak illustrating the end of mankind and the animal civilization which inherited the earth.

There is no dramatic apocalypse for Earth. This is a philosophical story of a quiet dwindling of the human population and the subsequent rise of their robots, dogs, and other animals who make use of the technology humans left behind and their influence on the development of future animal civilization. I do not believe this to be a likely ending of mankind, it seems more of an introvert's dream. But the stories present a thoughtful exploration of fundamental questions about what it means to be human.

So I was trying to explain this book to my son, but had a hard time getting him to take me seriously when I was describing talking dogs who traveled between dimensions, robots who fed a vegetarian world, humans who became gas entities on Jupiter, and ants who used tools to build structures. But in spite of the apparant absurdities, this story pulls off a transcendant picture of a utopian society created in man's wake. It is a story about loneliness and nostalgia for what might have been, and paints a beautiful picture of potential and possibilities for life on Earth.
 
kythe said:
I just finished  City, a series of short stories by Clifford Simak illustrating the end of mankind and the animal civilization which inherited the earth.

There is no dramatic apocalypse for Earth. This is a philosophical story of a quiet dwindling of the human population and the subsequent rise of their robots, dogs, and other animals who make use of the technology humans left behind and their influence on the development of future animal civilization. I do not believe this to be a likely ending of mankind, it seems more of an introvert's dream. But the stories present a thoughtful exploration of fundamental questions about what it means to be human.

So I was trying to explain this book to my son, but had a hard time getting him to take me seriously when I was describing talking dogs who traveled between dimensions, robots who fed a vegetarian world, humans who became gas entities on Jupiter, and ants who used tools to build structures. But in spite of the apparant absurdities, this story pulls off a transcendant picture of a utopian society created in man's wake. It is a story about loneliness and nostalgia for what might have been, and paints a beautiful picture of potential and possibilities for life on Earth.
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Great book. I reread it a few weeks ago.
 
Currently a Book of Essays about Philip k Dick.1983.
Harlan Ellison Stories.Audio.
Rex Stout ,Nero Wolfe mystery,1955.Audo.
 
Read Tales From The White Hart - Arthur Clarke.
More than 50 years old, it's probably that long since I first read it. Picked it up as one of the stories was collected in an annual best of volume I looked at as part of focusing on classic anthologies for that thread.
Basically it's a collection of 15 tall tales. Pretty dry, with each taking off from a supposed scientific invention or idea. Simple and straightforward. It's the precursor and model for a lot of bar tales, notably (to my memory) those of Spider Robinson and Larry Niven.
I was a little surprised that they didn't have more humour. My memory of it was very positive. But then most tings used to be better, right?
 
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