Einstein by Walter Isaacson

The first book I’ve completed in 2009! And it was a good one (and a library book, in keeping with my New Year’s resolution to be a bit more frugal).

What distinguishes this book from other Einstein biographies is that the author relied on many of the newly released personal letters from Einstein’s estate. Therefore, we get a better idea of what made Einstein tick and how he approached his work. Einstein saw it as part of his mission to extend the work of James Clerk Maxwell (who died the year Einstein was born), as a theorist who shed prevailing biases, leading him into the territory of field theories.

Now, I’ve read the book and still have very little idea of what a field theory is all about. Here’s Einstein’s take on it:

A new concept appeared in physics, the most important invention since Newton’s time: the field. It needed great scientific imagination to realize that is not the charges nor the particles but the field in the space between the charges and particles that is essential for the description of physical phenomena.

This thinking led to the breakthroughs of his “miracle year” – 1905 – that saw the breaks from classical, Newtonian physics and into the revolutionary thinking of relativity – with its unsettling implications that perhaps randomness is at the heart of the behavior of the universe, and not order. What fascinated me was how Einstein basically spent the last years of his life trying to find a way around the theory that he postulated. And it was ironic that Einstein completed his famous paper that would revolutionize science but had not been able to earn a doctorate degree!

At the same time Einstein was deconstructing the universe, the same sort of breaking down of classical conventions was also happening in literature with Proust and art with the Impressionists. It is fascinating that the world as a whole seemed to be at the brink of a new era, in diverse areas, at the same time.

I enjoyed reading about Einstein the man, too, who seemed so humble, humorous, and kind (although not the best in relationships alas). “I regard class differences as a contrary to justice,” he once wrote. “I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally.”

It is so cliche, but the man was a genius, far ahead of his time. Liberty, he said, is the necessary foundation for the development of all true values.

We were lucky to have him then. I wish we had him now.

The book is dead, long live the book

This is a very interesting article (with some excellent book references).

Excerpt:

Despite the attention once paid to the so-called digital divide, the real gap isn’t between households with computers and households without them; it is the one developing between, on the one hand, households where parents teach their children the old-fashioned skill of reading and instill in them a love of books, and, on the other hand, households where parents don’t. As Griswold and her colleagues suggested, it remains an open question whether the new “reading class” will “have both power and prestige associated with an increasingly rare form of cultural capital,” or whether the pursuit of reading will become merely “an increasingly arcane hobby.”

There is another aspect of reading not captured in these studies, but just as crucial to our long-term cultural health. For centuries, print literacy has been one of the building blocks in the formation of the modern sense of self. By contrast, screen reading, a historically recent arrival, encourages a different kind of self-conception, one based on interaction and dependent on the feedback of others. It rewards participation and performance, not contemplation. It is, to borrow a characterization from sociologist David Riesman, a kind of literacy more comfortable for the “outer-directed” personality who takes his cues from others and constantly reinvents himself than for the “inner-directed” personality whose values are less flexible but also less susceptible to outside pressures. How does a culture of digitally literate, outer-directed personalities “read”?

What do you think? Are we creating two classes of people, one for the Computer Screen and one for the Book? If so, what are the implications? Is deriding computer screen reading creating a sort of witch hunt mentality, to compensate for a fear of the loss of book reading? Does computer reading make it harder to switch back to the single-focus of reading a book? Or are we magnifying the possibilities of losing the “disciplined companionship” of book reading? Post your thoughts here.

‘Fess Up Friday

Is it really Friday already? I didn’t get much writing done beyond the blogs. Not to excuse myself, but I did get a gallbladder attack (now have to go under the knife), which has set me back at work (trickling over to other areas of my life).

I did submit a short story to an online ‘zine, if that counts. And dammit, this week it counts.

The Chunkster Challenge

Now I’m getting back into the swing of things: My first challenge!

I’m going for the Chunkster Challenge 2009, specifically the Chubby Chunkster category.

2 books, 450 pages or longer

And I have all year to finish.

Which books to read, that is the question…for another post!

Finally, some good news

This is good news: In Apparent Reversal, Americans Are Reading More Literature, Report Says – I got this item from SFP at Pages Turned.

And check out Andrew’s Book Club, which features a new book of short stories to read each month.

‘Fess Up Fridays Returns!

Might as well get back on board with this idea.

This week, I actually have something to report, too: I revived this blog and started another: Recessionista, which will follow my travails as we all slog through the economic downturn. I don’t want to be a naysayer but let’s face it: All of the pundits and financial gurus are even sounding a death knell to the “old” economy (built on air, anyway). I am glad that debt and credit and overspending may be going away, but the little guy will pay for all of the big mistakes that were made by Alan Greenspan, GW, and company.

Okay, I’ll save that soapbox for the Recessionista blog.

LK recommends

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Synopsis: A young man in India breaks out of his caste the hard way to become an “entrepreneur.”

What Makes It: The voice is sharp and memorable. Think Holden Caulfield without the depression and a lot more huzpah. This debut novel won the Man Booker Prize, if that does anything for you. And the story is really intriguing…you find out more about what India is like, and also how the pitfalls of its democracy mirror our own in the States.

Happy 2009

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.

This is my first post for a while. I will try to start anew after a rather hellish 2008. My father was very sick all year. He died in October. Between that and a really busy job, well, the blog fell to the wayside.

I could barely read a cereal box, much less keep up any kind of literary book reading!

But, I’m back and hoping to pick it all up again.

Soon I hope to be following my fellow bloggers and being a culturalish kitten once again. This year, though, my library card will need to be put to good use! Got to tighten the belt, you know.

Best wishes to all for a peaceful, prosperous and healthy 2009!

RIP III: The List

Finally, the choices for RIP III reading are made! I debated this one many times over, and read some of the marvelous pools that other participants were posting over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Should I go modern or Victorian, mystery or horror, new author or familiar friend?

I’ve decided to stick with my leanings toward the Gothic genre and toward literary discoveries that span the centuries.

1. M.R. James, Casting the Runes and other Ghost Stories. This author is considered a master of the ghostly Gothic tale, and I’ve never read him. So cheers to things that traditionally go bump in the night!

2. Davis Grubb, The Night of the Hunter. First published in 1932, this novel is best-known for being adapted into a creepy Noir film starring Robert Mitchum. It’s about a psychopath preacher who stalks two orphaned children. Quintessential American Gothic. Let’s see if this thriller is worth reviving.

3. Kingsley Amis, The Green Man. The idea of this book intrigues me: an English country pub run by an alcoholic philanderer is haunted by a Faustian ghost. Plus, I’ve never read Kingsley Amis. Plus, this book is apparently out of print. This is still in the supernatural realm, a la the M.R. James, book, but I’m skating on the fact that this is a contemporary novel versus a Victorian selection of short stories to amend the categorization that Peril the II requires. I hope Carl V. approves.

Happy reading everyone.

RIP III…It’s heeeerree!

Alright, just when I figured there was no gas left in this old bag, Carl V. announced the RIP III Challenge!

It starts Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 31. If you haven’t ever participated, give it a shot — you won’t believe how much fun it is.

I am joining Peril the Second, aiming for 3 books.

Now comes the fun part: Deciding which books I’ll read!!! What are you all reading?

Side note: Just wanted to record some of the books I’ve finished the past few months.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale
The Black Death: A Personal History, John Hatcher
Nixonland, Rick Perlstein
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, Hayden Herrera
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, David M. Kennedy