The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, 399 pages

In the near future, a Chinese nanotechnologist is drawn into an investigation to uncover the mysterious deaths of a series of prominent scientists. Going undercover, he also goes down the rabbit hole of a perplexing computer game and learns about a 40-year-old top secret project involving transmitting radio messages to outer space.

Cixin creates a complex world in this book (the first of an epic trilogy), a world based in theoretical physics, philosophy, history, and math but reaching far beyond. He also creates intriguing situations and moral dilemmas, both in the computer game and out. While at times I felt a bit in-over-my-head with the technical information, Cixin (and his translator, Ken Liu) did a good job of explaining things simply enough for a decidedly non-techie like me to keep up. This won those scandal-filled Hugo Awards this year, and given the thought-provoking nature of the book, it's easy to see why. I'd recommend this for fans of Michael Crichton's novels and for those who liked Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow series.

Einstein: His Space and Times / Steven Gimbel 191 pp.

One doesn't have to be a genius to make Einstein's story interesting, but a writer has to be skilled to distill its many events, both scientific and personal, into 191 pp. while conveying the sense of a flesh and blood human being.  It's my near-constant complaint about biographies; most give you a lot of information about the person without making you feel that you know the person.  Gimbel scores high on my biographo-meter, using judicious details about Einstein's appearance, habits, and opinions to color events many of us are familiar with on the page in black and white: the world-changing papers produced by the Zurich patent clerk, the science wars over relativity and quantum mechanics, and Einstein's ambivalence over Judaism, Zionism, and pacifism.  I can't say whether Gimbel's explanations of Einstein's theories are entirely apt, but they are certainly as clearly written as others I've read for the non-scientist, and admirably concise.

The Book of Tea

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura  pp. 94

This small book is not about tea per se although there is a bit of history about the use of tea. Instead it is a book on the philosophy of "Teaism" and the practices of tea masters with regards to aesthetics and life practices. It includes the connections between Teaism and Zen, Taoism, architecture, garden design, and floral arranging. Interesting, especially for those who study Asian religions. Don't pick this up looking for a reference on varieties and uses of tea.

Human Nature & Jewish Thought: Judaism's Case for Why Persons Matter / Alan J. Mittleman 215 pp.

A response to the rise of scientism, in which human cognition, behavior and value are explained along strictly scientific lines.  Mittleman argues that the inherent worth of human beings can't be understood merely along the lines of neuroscience, evolution, or genetics.  He explains Judaism's stance on personhood through a careful examination of Torah, Midrash, medieval scholarly writing, and contemporary thinkers.  The broad topics considered include free will, the nature of humans as created beings and their relationship to the creator, and their relations with one another.

I'm badly oversimplifying here; this was an excellent but not extremely accessible book.

The Speechwriter

The speechwriter: a brief education in politics / Barton Swaim 204 pgs.

Swaim's book is very fun to read for anyone who is interested in politics and probably anyone who likes to slow down and stare at accidents.  Swaim was a speechwriter for governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina.  Sanford was a complete jerk as a boss but was being looked at as a potential vice presidential candidate.  All of that before he went missing for 5 days while "hiking on the Appalachian trail" which was ACTUALLY a trip to visit his mistress in Argentina.  Staffers, who didn't ever like the governor suffered as they watched him became a joke and wondered if future job interviews would be granted only because the interviewer wanted a laugh.

After reading about the treatment of the staff, I think many of us will appreciate our jobs a little bit more.

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September Totals!

Christa  9/2004

Kara  12/3175

Karen  8/1945

Kathleen  9/3117

Linda  2/660

Marilyn  1/364

Patrick  6/2461

Total:  48/14,074

Black Chalk

Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates, 346 pages

Fourteen years ago, six Oxford students started playing a game that focused on dares, consequences and general tomfoolery...or so they thought. As the game wore on, the dares got bolder, brasher, and altogether meaner, taking a toll on the students' lives and friendships. Told through a series of journal entries that bounce between the early days of the game and today, Black Chalk is a slow-burning, high-tension novel that hints at dire consequences for the players of the game. Throw in an unreliable narrator (the reader can't be sure which character's even writing it until a third of the way through the book) and you've got yourself a spooky story in the vein of The Bellwether Revivals or Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

A Spool of Blue Thread

A Spool of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler  357 pp.

This novel is a shortlist nominee for the Man Booker Prize which will be announced in ten days. This is the story of multiple generations of the same family, the Whitshanks. Most of the action centers in and around the beautiful Baltimore home built by the patriarch, "Junior" Whitshank. The family is a close one but there are disputes, disappointments, and secrets that emerge that make the family somewhat less than happy. There is an angry daughter, a ne'er-do-well son, a too perfect daughter-in-law, a son who feels betrayed, and the others who just wish things would stay as they always were. It is Abby, wife of Junior's son, Red, who is the glue that holds the family together and makes it work. I found myself caring about these people and getting angry when some of them behaved badly. However, I found the ending to be a disappointment. It's not that I expected some glowing happy resolution to it all, but it felt to me as if it just fizzled out. In spite of that, I would recommend it.

Millstone / Margaret Drabble 192 pp.

Written over 30 years before the lovely The Witch of Exmoor, this is a much less polished work but still interesting.  Rosamund, a well-educated young woman with a smart set of friends, has a secret: she's a virgin, and feels embarrassed that despite her many boyfriends she can't bridge this gap of intimacy with anyone.  She alternates her vigorous social life with hard academic work and plenty of musing about her upbringing and how it's made her who she is: a good person, possibly incapable of love.

I love Drabble's preoccupation with matters of class, environment, and social justice.  She is almost analytical, but without apology, and her stories are surprising.  When Rosamund ceases to be a virgin and the obvious result ensues, nothing about the arc of the story quite follows convention.  Sweet and sad.

The Sympathizer

The Sympathizer / Viet Thanh Nguyen 371 pgs.

A memoir of a young secret police officer in the South Vietnamese army.  He escapes late in the game with his general and a cadre of others.  Our narrator who graduated from college in the US has made himself invaluable as an intelligent translator and all around "can do" guy.  Among his crowd in California is best friend and blood brother Bon who is on a crash course with suicide after the death of his wife and son.  The protagonist is playing both sides, spying for the communists at home while serving the cause at a distance who intend to return in triumph to Vietnam.

A disastrous return to the homeland leads to an interesting end.

This book is interesting, humorous, harrowing and elegant.  I'm sure I did not appreciate it as much as I should have but it is much smarter than I am.

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