A review of Inferno Revealed

A small book packed with information.  If your interest was piqued by the second part of the title “from Dante to Dan Brown” and you have not read the Inferno lately (or perhaps just pieces or even not at all) this is an excellent read.  A bit dense as the authors, Deborah and Mark Parker, do go into lengthy detail concerning the epic poem, so one does not read it all in one sitting or even several.  It is not a college course by any means but pay attention, these folks will provide a great deal of insight into Dante’s masterwork.

 

The book is largely concerned directly with the Inferno and its meaning. This is followed by what is called Dante’s Legacy. Discussions as to how later authors and poets used Dante’s style, words and approaches in their own works. In a rather elitist view the Parker’s divide this section into uses in what they call High culture and Popular culture.  In this latter the movie “Beetlejuice” is among those examined. 

 

At last you come to Dan Brown’s use of the poem both specifically and in nuance. A closing section provides a complete list, with page numbers, of allusions to The Inferno found in Brown’s book and how they are reflected.

 

In the back of the book is thorough timeline of Dante’s life and times, the numbered notes from each chapter (there are not many) and a short bibliography.

 

I suppose one could always ask the question: Is it necessary to that one be familiar with Dante’s Inferno to enjoy Don Brown’s Inferno.  That question could be asked about almost any book particularly action adventures.  The author is taking you on a journey should not just the presented thrills be enough?  I believe the Parkers answer that question very well when they say “...(it) asks us to think about how curiosity, in the most active and wide sense, might change how we read and how we enjoy literature.”  I have a large library because I like to reread my books.  I now realize that the enjoyment of the re-read occurs because I now know more about the book and my life experiences have expanded and thus the book I read it differently.

 

Therefore I recommend you get Inferno Revealed, let your curiosity be assuaged by a short course in understanding Dante’s Inferno, turn to Dan Brown’s Inferno for a second read and one that will be more fulfilling.

This book is from Raven Books, an imprint of Orca Book Publishers,  under the rubric “Rapid Reads”and is classed as Adult Fiction.  My copy is an advanced one from uncorrected proofs.  The author, James Heneghan, was a fingerprint specialist for the Vancouver Police Department and has won numerous awards for his books for young children.  This novel is not for children by any means but follows the Rapid Reader genre put out by Raven Books.  This is the second of these books I have read and reviewed and now that I have more experience with them I can understand where the publishers want to go: to those adults who are not highly literate but are interested reading.  As a result the grammar is spare and the adjectives strong.  Subtle nuances are not in this genre and endings can be seen coming.

At the same time the plot has interesting turns and one can quickly come to enjoy the activities of the protagonist.  In A Woman Scorned the hero is Sebastian Casey, a reporter for the West End Clarion.  Casey, a transplanted Irishman, is not very ambitious, seeking neither fame and fortune but with a bump of curiosity.  Normally assigned to City Hall, Casey finds himself suddenly sent to cover police activities or the “cop shop” as they call it.  A fortunate happenstance as a City Councilman is found a suicide but did he truly cut his wrist and bleed to death in his high rise luxury condo?  Casey is not so sure and off we go on an adventurous mission as he starts to unravel the skein of facts. 

Mixed in with the above Casey also has to cope with the fact that the love of his life, while in Ireland caring for her dying mother, has apparently taken up with a writer there.  Oh the vicissitudes.

A good Rapid Reader, I finished it in two hours, and I believe it is spot on for the audience Raven Books intends.

A review of the book Godel, Escher and Bach

Godel, Escher, Bach; An eternal gold braid

Vintage books, 1979

 

A 1999 edition is available on Amazon.

I recently read “spacebookthenovel” by Robert Allan Richardson in which he referred glancingly to this astounding book that I had read many years ago.  I could not resist it, I searched my library and there is was among my mathematics books.  It is not an easy read by any means and as I looked at it I saw that one of our Labs had found it an equally tough item to chew on.  She had managed to make inroads on the lower left corner but thankfully left the rest intact.

First let’s look at the three individuals.  Opening with J.S. Bach, Hofstadter examines this brilliant musician’s famous Musical Offering to King Frederick the Great.  It is what we would now call a fugue and it’s theme is The Royal Theme.  It is an extraordinary musical piece being a six part fugue.  To give you an idea of how extraordinary this is you could compare it to playing sixty simultaneous blindfold games of chess and winning them all.  In presenting his copy of the piece to King Frederick the following was inscribed on the first page: Regis Iusfu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Refolula.   “At the King’s command, the song and the remainder resolved with canonic art”.  Ricercar are the initials of the statement but also an old Italian word meaning “to seek” (in modern Italian “cercare.”) In these musical types a single theme is played against itself.  A very simple example would be to sing what we call rounds such as “row, row, row your boat, or Frere Jacques.  The voices are sung by voices coming in at every fourth beat but they can also be sung inverting the melody, reversing it, echoing it, going up or down an octave, or even changing the time.  The central point is that the ricercar is RECURSIVE producing what Hofstadter calls “strange loops”.

The four CD set “The Glenn Gould edition of The Well Tempered Clavichord” with 48 fugues and preludes demonstrate this type of music very well. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach's music. You might be interested in exploring this musical piece.

Next is M.C. Escher.  If you have ever seen any of his work you will remember they feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. Take  his pencil drawing of two hands, each drawing the other.  Another is his “waterfall” which pictures a canal of water starting under a waterfall that turns a waterwheel, proceeds through four 90 degree turns and ends producing the waterfall from whence we started.  Again a RECURSIVE resulting in that strange loop.

If you are interested in pursuing Escher’s art I recommend “The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher” available on Amazon for, interestingly $95 or $.065.  I can never figure out Amazon’s pricing but there are other editions of Escher and you will enjoy looking at his truly fascinating view of the world.

And now to Kurt Godel, the key figure in this wonderful book.  In our first two artists we could see a conflict between the finite and the infinite resulting in paradox.  In the 20th Century a mathematical equivalent was discovered , with enormous repercussions.  A Strange Loop was found by this brilliant mathematician.  In its simplest form it can be likened to the liar’s paradox proposed by the Cretan Epimenides to this effect: All Cretans are liars.  Cogitate on this simple statement for a moment.  An even simpler statement would be “I am Lying” or “this statement is false.”  It is self-referential and a Strange Loop indeed!  In Godel’s mathematical world his strange loop statement, which I will not produce here because it is in German and even translated to English you will think it still in German,  means  he proved for any computable axiomatic system that is powerful enough to describe the arithmetic of the natural numbers set theory with the axiom of choice, that: If the system is consistent, it cannot be complete and the consistency of the axioms cannot be proven within the system. That is  Gödel essentially constructed a formula that claims that it is unprovable in a given formal system. If it were provable, it would be false, which contradicts the idea that in a consistent system, provable statements are always true. Thus there will always be at least one true but unprovable statement. In fact, there is an infinity of true statements it cannot prove. Whew!

Turning now to the book it is centered around Strange Loops, those recursive auto references; that generate twisted hierarchies, which, according to the author, can explain much about Intelligence, Consciousness, DNA, symbols and meaning. It  spans Zen and Zeno, Bach and Cage, Escher and Magritte, Gödel and Turing, Cantor and Russell. The auto-references allow him to jump up and down, and move in stimulating vortexes, culminating as a ricercar in 6 voices in a digression about free will, life and death at various levels

Also, each "serous" chapter is prefaced by an amusing dialogue between Achilles and a Tortoise (from Zeno's "paradoxes') and other droll characters. 

All in all a fascinating book. It is a golden braid intertwining looks at logic, philosophy, consciousness, music, art, biology, computers, and countless other topics through the prism of concepts of uncertainty, incompleteness, and self reference. 

If you decide to buy this book, and you should, get the 1999 edition.  Hofstadter’s forward does a much better job of preparing you for what follows than did his original.  And remember, you don’t have to read it all in one pass.  Do as my Lab did: chew on small portions and enjoy.

SPACEBOOKTHENOVEL

Review of “SPACEBOOKTHENOVEL”

Robert Allan Richardson

Originally an Ebook but now in print on Amazon

$14.95

 

Pagescape Press 2013

 

A thought provoking book but the question is what thoughts are provoked.  The problem with dealing with the PhD Professoriate is that each thinks he/she is the repository of all that is great and good in the world and this book is a regurgitation of the author’s concept of that collection.

 

Benjamin Bidwell, a consumate talker as a child, loses his voice early in life to his consternation.  He was fifteen and had been entered into a speech contest, at which he was odds on favorite to win given his penchant for oratory.  But alas and lackaday just as he starts into providing those golden thoughts he becomes mum.  As Benjamin puts it “So ended my prodigies of speech.”

 

He was not content within his silence and as he worked hard and well at various farms all those words kept piling up inside him. Straining to be free.  And then, mirabile dictu, he found a way to release himself from this enforced silence: he saw and answered an ad for an auctioneer school.  Indeed he regained his power of speech and we are henceforth treated to his every thought, profound to whimsical.  Except for Professor Richardson’s use of punctuation the phrase “stream of consciousness” becomes one of those provoked thoughts we spoke of at the outset.  In any case Bidwell decides he will learn everything necessary to provide him the wherewithal to judge all that is right and wrong with the world. 

 

On this journey of exploration Benjamin provides us both an outside view of life and an inside view.  The outside consists of his starting to work as a farmhand milking cows while he attends University as a free spirit simply auditing those classes in which he was interested.  No need to pay, after all he is going to do the world a good turn by learning all this.  He does an auction for a friend and this leads eventually to his starting his own business and turn leads to buying a farm, and eventually into a bookbinding business. There is a side trip into singing operatic duets. The book ends with pages of apparent witticisms and common phrases turned about. 

 

The inside view, during these discourses examine our present day technology and Bidwell’s extreme dislike for it as it apparently takes us outside of ourselves.  I grant that all technology throws shadows but Richardson dwells in those shadows and predicts disaster.  As a pacifist he seeks to prove his courage and his manhood.  I hold no brief against that. I have nonesuch as friends but I am aware of much good they do when they choose to support their country. But methinks the Professor doth protesteth too much.

 

Why is it the intellectuals conceit that the only life is the life on a farm, being a horny-handed son of the soil.  As Reginald Heber( English clergyman, traveler, man of letters and hymn-writer) would have it "...every prospect pleases and only man is vile”. The present population of the United States is approximately 300 million I believe.  Can you imagine if all 300,000,000 of us lived and worked on a farm?

 

 I would call Professor Richardson a neo-Luddite except for the irony of his writing this novel originally in cyberspace.  And perhaps his magnum opus suffered in translating from modern technology to use of the Gutenberg approach.

A review of Stephen Puleston's "Brass in Pocket

Brass in Pocket

A Detective Drake novel by UK author Stephen Puleston

This is a good, solid detective novel and is the first in a series of Detective Inspector Drake adventures.  Set in rural north Wales the American reader faces two interesting situations. First is the fact that we do not recognize some of the idiom and, while meanings can be gained from context, it helps to know in advance, for example,  that “biro” is the UK slang for “ballpoint” as it allows reading without speed bumps.  Secondly neither are we cognizant of the rivalry between various regions of the UK.  The word “Scouser” is used with some frequency and after some research, I found that the word pertains to those from the Liverpool area and they are considered by the Welsh to be less than honorable shall we say.  However, in this day and age of the Internet I think my two comments are more cavils than complaints.  We read books available to us from around the world and they open our minds, as good books should, to newer and certainly more different things.

All strong detectives should have an idiosyncracy if not an eccentricity and Detective Inspector Drake has a good one.  He suffers from an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder requiring him to frequently adjust everything on his desk to their assigned meticulous positions. There are other indications but the reader will find them as the story progresses and discover how they put forward or inhibit the detecting being done. Drake also solves Sudoku puzzles to help himself feel more in control.

Brass in Pocket is the title of a song by The Pretenders that came out in 1979.  The novel opens with the killing of two policemen and one of the clues was a note left at the scene containing the lyrics of the song under which was scrawled the number 4.  There are further murders and each is accompanied by a note containing the lyrics of a song from 1979. More and more pressure is brought to bear on DI Drake both from his superiors and journalists to solve the crimes before the murder can strike again and, as the story progresses, he even comes to fear for his job.  Several other crimes are revealed and solved as the investigation moves forward and the suspense builds well.  The denouement is has a nice hook and you are left wondering why you didn’t see it earlier, given what you now know.  Shades of Hercule Poirot. Good stuff for a detective story.

I have not read any of Mr. Puleston’s previous works but I look forward to doing so and certainly the second outing of DI Drake with his adventures in rural north Wales as he twiddles his biro and scowls over the machinations of Scousers.

A review of David Balducci's "Zero Day"

 Of all the Baldacci books I have read I enjoyed this on the most.  The protagonist is an active duty Army CID agent sent to investigate the murder of a Colonel that occurred in a small West Virginia town in coal mining country.  Plenty of plot twists, good descriptions of action and activity.  Two comments though:  First Puller, (the protagonist) has the most well stocked automobile trunk one could hope for.  almost every contingency has him pulling out the correct item as needed.  Secondly, his character has echoes of Jack Reacher.  This is not a cavil but rather a comment that such characters are a welcome change from the anti-hero and metrosexuals that seem to inhabit the genre lately.  

A review of the novel "Valentino Pier."

This book is from Raven Books, an imprint of Orca Book Publishers,  under the rubric “Rapid Reads”and is classed as Adult Fiction.  My copy is an advanced one from uncorrected proofs.

The plot is fairly straight forward: the protagonist, PI Gulliver Dowd, kindly searches for a street urchin’s dog.  Upon finding the dog and attempting to return it, Dowd discovers the boy badly beaten and left for dead not far from Valentino Pier.  The rest of the book is the search for reasons and happenstances, a threat on Dowd’s life materializes and there are a series of strange and outlandish events that can only be called bizarre clues. 

I must be frank in that while I liked the idea of the plot I found the writing was at best weak.  Upon setting out on the first chapter I thought the author was attempting to emulate Ernest Hemingway’s famous terse and understated style or perhaps that of one of the more hard boiled detectives popular many years ago.  I was quickly disabused of this notion.  It really was the simpler style of “See Spot. See Spot run.”  

What makes this discovery all the more bizarre is the fact that the author, Reed Farrel Coleman has seventeen published novels, is a three time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year and, to top it off, a two-time Edgar Award nominee.  Perhaps the “adult fiction” this book was listed under was meant to read “tiny tots.” At least it was a fast read.

The Phantom Patrol by L. Ron Hubbard

 

To pirate part of a quote “let’s return to the thrilling days of yesteryear...”.  And the series of books that bring L. Ron Hubbard back from the golden age of pulp fiction certainly do that.  Pulp fiction in the days when I was growing up was our escape from the humdrum, provided us with heroes who were both dashing and moral, and best of all, the books were cheap.  

 

But the writing was not.  And L. Ron Hubbard was one of the best.  He wrote in almost every genre of adventure there was, from westerns to mysteries to scifi & fantasy and military.  Threw in the occasional novel as well. Because his tastes were very eclectic combined with an inquiring mind, he roamed the world seeking and finding characters and situations he wove into these thrilling tales.

 

The Phantom Patrol is an excellent example of the pulp genre and his researches, in this case centered around the US Coast Guard. A Cutter commanded by CPO Jimmy Trescott is tracking an infamous drug runner named Georges Coquelin (interesting to note that drug runners were as prevalent then as now, and with the removal of Prohibition, were of a major concern to the Coast Guard) only to receive an SOS from an aircraft that had crashed but was still afloat.  Giving up on the drug runner’s trail, Jimmy rushes to the rescue only to have Coquelin arrive at the same time.  Results include a damsel in distress, a wealthy man in need, armed combat and eventually a bad case of mistaken identity.  

 

Join me in enjoying this thriller from yesteryear as L. Ron Hubbard builds the tension to an exciting climax.  Remember what is was like to curl up with a rousing good tale.

 

 

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A review of the novel "South by Java Head"

I was woolgathering in my library the other day and my glance fell on an old book, on the shelves for a long time it had been gathering dust and had about it a film of neglect. And such a shame for it to have been so neglected. Written by Alistair MacLean and published in 1958, the story is set in February 1942, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Singapore. As the British stronghold of Singapore falls to the invading Imperial Japanese Army, a mixed collection of soldiers, nurses, fleeing civilians, a small boy, and at least one spy attempt to escape the burning city aboard the Kerry Dancer, a battered freighter manned by a disreputable captain and crew. The Kerry Dancer is crippled by Japanese aircraft, and the refugees are rescued by the Viroma, a tanker also fleeing Singapore; however, the Viroma is also sunk by the Japanese, and the survivors take to open boats open sea. Led by stalwart First Officer Nicholson, they attempt to flee to safety across the South China Sea, facing death by thirst and exposure, typhoons, and pursuit by the relentless Japanese. As tension amount in the small boat, Nicholson realizes that they are equally at risk from traitors in their midst.

 

Having spent two years in Indonesia as the Air Attache and being fortunate enough to have been brought to fluency in Bahasa Indonesia courtesy of the US State Department, the novel awakens memories.  Taking part in several memorials to Indonesian intellectuals murdered by the Japanese and hearing their stories, made the events in South by Java Head very poignant.

 

Of course one truism that can be said of Mr. MacLean’s heroes, they are typically a male character who is depicted as physically and morally indestructible.  The kind of character all men aspire to.  Unlike the “tainted hero” who skirts or outright flaunts a disregard for law and justice to obtain the correct outcome, MacLean’s protagonists adhere to the straight and narrow and overcome what appears to be insurmountable odds.  With conversation frequently  laced with a dry, sardonic, self-deprecating humour, the hero guides us on to a satisfying end.

Review of “Choke Point” by Ridley Pearson

This was my introduction to the Ridley Pearson books, the second in his series of “Risk Agent” novels.  The copy I received was a bound, uncorrected advance proof.  

 

The Risk Agents are John Knox and Grace Chu, each equipped with the skills necessary to be successful in carrying out international intrigue although I am not quite sure what they all are.  Certainly masters of arcane martial arts and lockpicking as amply demonstrated. There were several combat scene errors that I am sure the author will smooth out in the final writing but to illustrate: Grace Chu is chasing a bad guy, he glances over his shoulder and the next sentence has Miss Chu kicking him in the chest. Awkward to say the least.

 

But these are minor cavils and I am sure will disappear in the in the first printing.  Overall I think it is a good thriller, suspense is built well, resolution smooth and contains interesting sidelights of the various locales as one would expect of an author of this calibre.  I intend to get the first book in the series “The Risk Agent” which I am sure will clear up some blank spots I ran across in this book.

A review of the book "The Jane Austen Book Club"

 

Over 200 years ago a young woman by the name of Jane Austen wrote six novels over a period of fifteen years.  They are romantic and center around the manners and mores of the landed gentry of the time.  She was never acknowledged as a writer during her time but the novels have since earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.  Over the years the books have been both praised and reviled (Mark Twain wrote “It would be a good library without those books even if there were no books in the library.”) but the praise far outruns the venom.  There are clubs throughout the world devoted to the examination and explanation of Miss Austen’s six novels.  And “The Jane Austen Book Club” is a fictional account of such a club.

 

In Central California five women and one man get together once a month for six months to discuss the novels, one each month.  Over that time marriages are tested, affairs begin and fade, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens.  Karen Joy Fowler channels Jane Austen brilliantly as she writes of the present day gentry with their faults, foibles and joys.

 

The first meeting, in March is hosted by Jocelyn. She has never married, raises, for show and stud, a breed of dog called Ridgebacks, noted as a matriarchal breed and Jocelyn is definitely the Alpha female. With her in charge, as the author puts it, an advanced civilization will come about.  The book under discussion is Emma.

 

In April the group is hosted by Allegra, the daughter of Sylvia a third member of the club. Allegra has broken up with her long time girlfriend for having revealed Allegra’s three deepest secrets.  The book examined is Sense and Sensibility.

 

May finds the group at Prudie’s.  Prudie teaches French at the local high school. Although she has never been to France she annoys by constantly using French phrases. As one of her friends says; “If only she would stop speaking French–or go to France where it wouldn’t be so noticeable.” Prudie suffers from a growing libido that tends to color the rest of her conversation. Mansfield Park is their subject

 

In June they convene at Grigg’s, the lone male of the group.  He had never read any of the Austen novels and had been invited to join the group by Jocelyn much to the wonderment of the women.  For whom had Jocelyn destined him? Instead of having each of the six novels separate he had bought the big compendium of Austen’s work, a single book viewed as heresy by the others.  He had an additional fault: he liked science-fiction and read it widely, proposing that they should read “Lavinia” by Ursula K. LeGuinn.  Northanger Abbey is this month’s subject.

 

July is for Bernadette, the oldest of the group.  She is inclined to hold forth while no one seems to listen.  Bernadette never says anything once if it can be said three times.  Pride and Prejudice is her book.

 

August finds the group back at Sylvia’s house.  Her husband, Daniel, had left her but at this point is starting to show up frequently.  This concerns the ladies because they had concluded that Jocelyn had meant Grigg for Sylvia.  Other characters are starting to enter the story as various arcs are nearing completion.  The book is Persuasion.

 

Filled with humor and incisive insight The Jane Austen Book Club will be enjoyed whether or not you are a Jane Austen fan. After all as Anthony Lane, a film critic for The New Yorker magazine, wrote in 1999 “Nudity, sexual abuse, lesbianism, a dash of incest–will we never tire of Jane Austen?”

Review of the Pulp Fiction book "The Iron Duke"

 

In the Thirties and Forties of the 20th Century Pulp Fiction (and the capitals are intended) was king.  Short, well written, filled with adventure, and best of all, spanned almost every genre imaginable.  It suffered from sneers of the literati who wanted their books to be lengthy, dense and unapproachable by the “masses.”  Fortunately Pulp Fiction did not suffer fools gladly and continued providing wonderful entertainment to millions of all ages.  It was, at the basic level, the short story format, which in itself has frequently been said to “be lost to this generation.”  Another fleering comment and was untrue then and is now.  In fact, in this day and age of the Ebook read on your smart phone and YouTube shorts watched on your tablet the short story format is alive and well.

 

And The Iron Duke is a great way to become acquainted with those wonderful stories from the golden age of Pulp Fiction.  Just 77 pages long and set in the 1930's,  it captures the adventures of a delightful rascal, Blackie Lee,  running from the Nazi’s.  Escaping to the kingdom of Aldoria he discovers that he has a pronounced resemblance to the ruler of that little country.  I am sure many of you are now thinking of that wonderful story “The Prisoner of Zenda” as well you should.   Mix in the evil genius named Balchard, a lovely Countess Zita, and of course, a bumbling sidekick named Stub the plot whirls along.  Blackie has his work cut out for him what with undermining a Communist plot (yes, the communists were a threat even back then) to rig elections, prevent the real Iron Duke (a drunk dissolute sort of fellow) from ruining lovely Aldoria and, as is essential in such stories, win the Countess’ heart but perhaps not her hand.  All of this in 77 pages! 

 

The book also has a very good biography of L. Ron Hubbard who, in my mind, is a true polymath.  I have not seen the other books in the series but I suspect that each of them will contain the same information so I will not bore you with details except to say even this is fascinating reading.

 

So how can you not buy this book?  Well if you hate adventure stories, want your reading material to be lengthy and verbose and find romance to be beneath you don’t buy it.  Otherwise join us in celebrating the return of the short story and dive in.  I mut warn you though: it is addictive!