Many, Many

I have been reading many books. I just havn't been posting them. I would like to get back to it, though. Right now I am just starting a biographical book about George Washington. It is entitled, "General George Washington: A Military Life." It is an interesting picture of late colonial America. I'd be interested to hear of anything the rest of you have read about George Washington.

The Mighty Hunters

We had a cute little baby bunny that was living in our yard. For weeks we've been watching it nibbling on our grass; scurrying away at the slightest sign of danger and hiding in the smallest of spaces. Unfortunately, Idgy and Lucy finally caught sight of it and launched a relentless pursuit. Having lasted so long unscathed, I had high hopes of the bunny surviving for some time. Alas, just the other day I came home to find Lucy defending her prize against Idgy, who was trying to come in the doggie door. The Mighty Hunters had finally taken their prey. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I ought to feel sad, or proud...

Theories on the Evolution of Man.

So, I finished "Clan of the Cave Bear." I really enjoyed the book, although it seemed to have a rather abrupt ending. The strange mind reading thing in the book was a little spooky, but interresting. It also appears that the author is of the school of thought that Neanderthals disappeared due to interbreeding with Homo Sapiens. This would indicate that they were not actually different species since they are capable of having fertile children. My personal uneducated opinion is that the differences between Neandertal and Homo Sapiens were great enough that interbreeding could not have occured. The differences were real physiological traits, including drastically different brains, not superficial variations in unimportant characteristics. The two lines had diverged long enough ago to have developed superior changes in their brains, but in different ways. That type of genetic distance is likely to preclude interbreeding. So, that part of the book was somewhat unexpected to me. However, I don't think it really took anything away from the story, but rather was an essential part of the plot advancement. As I mentioned before, I love to read of other people's speculations on how other "intelligent" species might differ from ourselves. "Clan of the Cave Bear" did not disappoint in this respect.

"Fantasy books have forests on the cover, and science fiction books have metal with rivets"

OK, I have been listening to several tapes. I completed "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, and also the sequel, "Speaker for the Dead." Most of that was during a road trip to Utah and back. I really enjoy this series. I also have enjoyed listening to the author interviews/commentary at the end of the tapes. It is really neat to hear about how books come to be. Orson Card is LDS, and I have enjoyed his unique perspective coming out in his writings. I think it is interesting that he has a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian references in his works. My suspicions were confirmed when I found out that he served a mission in Brazil. Among the references are a colony of Catholic, Portuguese speaking Brazilians populating the planet that is the setting for "Speaker for the Dead" and "Xenocide," which I have yet to read. Also, in the parallel series he wrote following the life of Bean, from "Ender's Game," Bean and a Catholic nun hide out in a Brazilian town for quite a while. His love of the culture really came out in that section of the book. I thought it was neat. Brazil also becomes the capital country in his new world Hegemony in that series. I always enjoy books about other intelligent life forms, and the speculation of how they may have come to be.

The other book I am now making my way through (thanks to Micaela who is kindly copying it from CD to her iPod each night) is Clan of the Cave Bear which I was reading a while back before my CD player broke and I got a job. It is quite enjoyable still. This is another instance where the author has license to speculate about another intelligent species. However, she is somewhat restricted by real scientific theories dealing with early species of man, I think the author does a good job of filling out the threads of theory in an interesting way. Particularly interesting is the issue of different advanced brain styles. In the book, the ancestors of modern man became advanced due to an enhanced cognitive abilities allowing complex abstract thought and problem solving. The Neanderthals achieved their limited reign of superiority through an over developed instinct structure. Memories of earlier ancestor were passed on as permanent pathways in the brain. This meant that there really would be specialized hereditary lines within the species because their parents and grandparents knew certain things that were passed on to there line only. The species are limited, though, by the size of their brains. After a while, there was no more room for new knowledge to be included in the memory banks and innovation was stagnated. Eventually, the newly arrived, but evolutionarily superior Homo Sapiens advanced beyond them and took over. The differing brain style allowed for only the important things to be relearned by each generation, leaving room in the brain to deal with new, unique situations and develop an advanced culture including written records to deal with the issue of passing on knowledge. At any rate, it makes for a good read.

Let me know your thoughts if you have read any of these books. I am eager for some discussion.

Mmmmm...Cake!

Micaela, this is for you. Since you are lemon cake, which I love, I thought you ought to know that I am a red velvet cake, which I have never eaten, but always thought was really cool.

You Are a Red Velvet Cake

Rich, decadent, and sensual. You have a deep appeal that transcends all trends. You are the definition of passion: intense, adventurous, and seductive.

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Too Much Driving For A Broken CD Player

OK, my CD player is busted, so I didn't finish "Clan of the Cave Bear," although it was getting pretty interesting. I did finish all three of the books I got on cassette, though. Steven King's "The Green Mile," "The Kite Runner," and I think I already mentioned "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood. Commuting gives me plenty of time to listen to books, but bad news for me: the new Weld County Library doesn't carry cassette tapes. They only have CD's. I was thoroughly disappointed to find that out. Now I have to go on the website and request them from other libraries. That sucks, because part of the fun was picking out books that I know nothing about.

At any rate, let's get back to the books. I know that at least some of you are familiar with at least one of these stories so I would really like to hear your thoughts on them. "The Green Mile" was, well, "The Green Mile." I saw the movie first, and I thought it was a marvelous adaptation. Sure, it left out the back story about Paul in the nursing home and Mr. Jingles living to the age of 60 or whatever it was, but I didn't think that was all that compelling anyway. Here is one instance where I think I prefer the movie because they really did a good job of casting. John Coffee (only not spelled the same way) was such a compelling character, I don't see how anyone could not find the story interesting on some level.

"The Kite Runner" (sorry, forgot the author's name and I am too tired to go look it up) was another great story. It was full of complex characters. Although the story line got a bit formulaic at one point, I thought it was a spectacular tale of human shame and redemption. It is, of course an interesting commentary on Afghanistan and it's recent history, and I think it is more well known for that (you are all welcome to leave your comments on that aspect if you wish), but I liked it for other reasons. One thing that struck me was when Amir writes his first short story about the man whose tears turned to pearls. In the book it is praised for its irony, but I thought the greatest irony was that it was actually the story of his own life. I guess they say, "you write what you know." It made me so sad. Then again at the end when he drives his nephew to attempted suicide...it nearly made me cry.

Well, I am out of energy for this tonight. Please leave me your thoughts and we can discuss in greater detail some of the more interesting and complex parts.

'Til next time...keep on reading those books!

--out--

Perks of the Daily Drive

Well, traffic isn't all bad. It means a few more minutes with a good book. Don't worry, I gave up on reading while I drive years ago. But, I do love audiobooks. I just went back to work, which means a solid hour and a half of book time each day. I have started two books. The first is "The Clan of the Cave Bear," by Jean M. Auel, and "The Blind Assassin," by Margaret Atwood. I have not read either of these, though I imagine many of you have read "The Clan of the Cave Bear." I'd be glad to hear your thoughts. By Margaret Atwood, I have listened to the BBC dramatization of "The Handmaids Tale," which was quite an interesting story. We'll see how things go.