the end of civilization

 Thoughts on a FB post i saw today:

then i guess the end of civilization comes when individual freedom and expression comes at the expense of others who are vulnerable and need protection. For example, school children and the immunocompromised, etc. In this case the predator is a virus, and in our post-civilized society, it is everyone for themselves. Sad and tragic.😔

Billions and Billions

Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Billions and Billions is a collection of essays and other short writings on various topics by Dr. Sagan. This was his last book, published posthumously. Topics range from science to the environment to technology to philosophical and moral questions related to humans past, present, and future existence. This book is not a deep dive into any of these subjects, but in true Sagan form, is infused through and through with his vast knowledge and profound wisdom. When we lost Dr. Sagan in 1996, the world lost one of the greatest minds and hearts of the 20th century. The chasm left behind is vast, and so needs to be filled. This is a great collection, and perhaps a great introduction to Dr. Sagan.

View all my reviews

a fool's bargain

Since we are on the subject of Dr. Sagan and right-wing fear mongering, i wanted to share an excerpt from another chapter in Billions and Billions. This is a speech that Sagan gave at the 125 anniversary re-dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery. it apparently is re-dedicated every 25 years. This is a several page read, but well worth it. Most of you are younger than i am and did not grow up during the cold war with its fear of nuclear war and regular civil defense drills in elementary school. The horror that Dr. Sagan is addressing, as we are see in Jesus and John Wayne, is a direct result of the militarism and fear mongering that the evangelical right made into our culture. We can thank the evangelicals, at least in part, for the horror described in this speech. Again, you are too young to have lived through it on a daily basis, not that what we live through now is any less horrid. I was wondering however, as Sagan describes the nuclear arsenal, where are all these nukes now, and in whose control?

the book chapter has the complete speech:
http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=422436

emphasis below is mine

"In 1945, at the close of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were virtually invulnerable. The United States bounded east and west by vast and impassable oceans, north and south by weak and friendly neighbors-had the most effective armed forces, and the most powerful economy on the planet. We had nothing to fear. So we built nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. We initiated and vigorously pumped up an arms race with the Soviet Union. When we were done, all the citizens of the United States had handed their lives over to the leaders of the Soviet Union. Even today, post-Cold War, post-Soviet Union, if Moscow decides we should die, twenty minutes later we're dead. In nearly perfect symmetry, the Soviet Union had the largest standing army in the world in 1945, and no significant military threats to worry about. It joined the United States in the nuclear arms race so that today every one in Russia has handed their lives over to the leaders of the United States. If Washington decides they should die, twenty minutes later they're dead. The lives of every American and every Russian citizen are now in the hands of a foreign power. I say we have made a fool's bargain. We - we Americans, we Russians - have spent 43 years and vast national treasure in making ourselves exquisitely vulnerable to instant annihilation. We have done it in the name of patriotism and "national security," so no one is supposed to question it."

Dr. Carl Sagan
THOUGHTS ON THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
13-SEP-1988

it occurred to me that in more recent times, our school children are still experiencing this horror - traumatized by a deadly threat from current generations - active shooter drills and shelter in place protocols. In this context, the threat is not missiles directed at us, 20 minutes away, but rather our bat-shit crazy neighbor with the arsenal in the back of his pickup truck, perhaps also 20 minutes away, but no less a horror to those precious children in their classrooms.

a man and his owl friend

My Friend Hootie by F Eugene Hester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

a nice memoir for kids about a man and his friendship with a barred owl named Hootie. Nice story
cover image that is missing:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71kYOEJQfXL.jpg

View all my reviews

quite an adventure

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This little story is quite an adventure. A lot is packed into this story of a poor fisherman pursuing his dream. It is a story of friendship, hope, luck, perseverance, hopelessness, struggle, victory and defeat. A nice story.

View all my reviews

highly recommended, and brilliant!

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Colson Whitehead really knows how to tell a story!! "The Nickel Boys" is the story of a Florida reform school for boys during the Jim Crow-era 1960s. But it is so much more. It is a story about many of the boys who resided at Nickel, how they came to be there, and where their paths took them after they "graduated" to freedom, told beautifully with depth and feeling. Obviously, there are some very dark parts to this tale, but the story is based solidly on an actual place, the Dozier reform school which existed in Florida, and was eventually closed when investigations into horrific cruelty and abuse pulled back the thin veil. The author tells the tale brilliantly, with prose that flow naturally as it is read. Not surprisingly, Mr. Whitehead won a Pulitzer prize for this story - as he did for "The Underground Railroad". This story is highly recommended, and i'm looking forward to reading more from Colson Whitehead in the future. Brilliant!

View all my reviews

well written and heartfelt story

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I guess everyone in the world has read this story except me. I believe it was assigned reading for both my kids in school, as it was for my wife. Anyway, i ran across a copy used and decided to read it. This is a very well written and heartfelt story of gang life in the 60's written from the perspective of a 14 year old gang member. The depth and perspective portrayed in this first person narrative is amazing, especially considering that the author was 16 when writing it. I was going to give it 4 stars, but it made me tear up the end so i splurged and gave it 5 stars. This is probably a must read. And now i am in search of the Francis Ford Coppola film with the all-star cast, based on the book. I recommend this one. Through parts of it, i kept hearing Springsteen's "Meeting Across the River", and "Jungleland" (side 2 of Born to Run) play in my head. Would be the perfect soundtrack for it.

View all my reviews

enlightening and enjoyable travelogue

Far Appalachia: Following the New River North by Noah Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Far Appalachia is a nicely written travelogue tracing the New River from its source in the mountains of Western NC to its destination in the Kanawha River in West Virginia. In the tradition of a great travelogue, the authors journey describes many interesting places along the way, talking to people, recounting history, giving context, and relating personal experiences. In reading, i found many connections that our family has to the New River that we didn't even know about. For one, a branch of the headwaters runs literally through the campus of the university where one of our children did their undergrad degree. Another connection is that we have driven along side it countless times going to our favorite camping location in SW Virginia. After reading, we want to make a point of exploring more of the New River, especially New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in WV. Far Appalachia is an enlightening and enjoyable tale, in the good company of books by William Least Heat-Moon (the Blue Highways trilogy), Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods and others) and of course John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley.

View all my reviews

here we go!!!

The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh boy here we go!!! the adventure continues!

View all my reviews

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

cool and creepy story. Apparently a retelling of the story of Snow White from the perspective of the step mother. wonderfully illustrated.

View all my reviews