Recent reading
Sep. 17th, 2020 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeA quick update before I start on the book that came in the post today. :D
Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould (1991). I'd already read several of Gould's collections of natural history essays, and decided to pick up another one when I felt I was missing natural history books in my life. This was an excellent decision! The essays range widely over palaeontology, natural history, history of science and twentieth-century American culture, and they're all both fascinating in subject matter and very well written. Gould has an amazing talent for linking together disparate facts and finding the essential point—whether a piece of evidence to support his views of natural history and evolution, a wider lesson about the scientific method or an even more general point about human thought and life—in all sorts of random bits and pieces. Really a great intellect. Of course the science has moved on since 1991, and some of the facts are now out of date (including, happily, the title essay—Brontosaurus has recently been restored as a valid genus, when the various species formerly classified as Apatosaurus were split into two genera), but many of the general points are still very relevant. Good stuff, and I really ought to get round to reading some of Gould's longer-form books, which also look very interesting.
The Holy City: Jerusalem II by Selma Lagerlöf (1902; translated by Velma Swanston Howard, 1918). This is the second part of Jerusalem. While the first part began with the Ingmars of Ingmar Farm and gradually developed into the story of the Helgumists and their planned emigration to Jerusalem, this one goes the other way, beginning with the Swedish emigrants' life in Jerusalem and gradually changing focus back to the Ingmars, with Ingmar Ingmarsson and his new wife Barbro becoming the main characters by the end. I preferred the first part, which has a lot of Lagerlöf's typical meandering style and vividly memorable set-pieces: all the imagery around the religious and historical significance of Jerusalem and its surroundings, the picture of the various religious colonies in Jerusalem and the 'city that kills', the various horrible misfortunes that befall the Swedish colonists during their first year in the city. The return of the Ingmar plot was less interesting (and marred by some unfortunate period attitudes), but it does also have a bit of the supernatural weirdness that's another of my favourite things about Lagerlöf's writing. As ever, her attitude as author and narrator is distant and detached—for such a significant subject, there's very little overt religious debate or criticism, or commentary on whether the colony was actually a good idea or not (the scene with the children at the end of the first part is never picked up on—instead we see them happily living at the colony, playing and going to school with no apparent problems). Another good one, although in some ways slightly mysterious—I would like to know more about the history that inspired it!
Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould (1991). I'd already read several of Gould's collections of natural history essays, and decided to pick up another one when I felt I was missing natural history books in my life. This was an excellent decision! The essays range widely over palaeontology, natural history, history of science and twentieth-century American culture, and they're all both fascinating in subject matter and very well written. Gould has an amazing talent for linking together disparate facts and finding the essential point—whether a piece of evidence to support his views of natural history and evolution, a wider lesson about the scientific method or an even more general point about human thought and life—in all sorts of random bits and pieces. Really a great intellect. Of course the science has moved on since 1991, and some of the facts are now out of date (including, happily, the title essay—Brontosaurus has recently been restored as a valid genus, when the various species formerly classified as Apatosaurus were split into two genera), but many of the general points are still very relevant. Good stuff, and I really ought to get round to reading some of Gould's longer-form books, which also look very interesting.
The Holy City: Jerusalem II by Selma Lagerlöf (1902; translated by Velma Swanston Howard, 1918). This is the second part of Jerusalem. While the first part began with the Ingmars of Ingmar Farm and gradually developed into the story of the Helgumists and their planned emigration to Jerusalem, this one goes the other way, beginning with the Swedish emigrants' life in Jerusalem and gradually changing focus back to the Ingmars, with Ingmar Ingmarsson and his new wife Barbro becoming the main characters by the end. I preferred the first part, which has a lot of Lagerlöf's typical meandering style and vividly memorable set-pieces: all the imagery around the religious and historical significance of Jerusalem and its surroundings, the picture of the various religious colonies in Jerusalem and the 'city that kills', the various horrible misfortunes that befall the Swedish colonists during their first year in the city. The return of the Ingmar plot was less interesting (and marred by some unfortunate period attitudes), but it does also have a bit of the supernatural weirdness that's another of my favourite things about Lagerlöf's writing. As ever, her attitude as author and narrator is distant and detached—for such a significant subject, there's very little overt religious debate or criticism, or commentary on whether the colony was actually a good idea or not (the scene with the children at the end of the first part is never picked up on—instead we see them happily living at the colony, playing and going to school with no apparent problems). Another good one, although in some ways slightly mysterious—I would like to know more about the history that inspired it!
no subject
Date: Sep. 18th, 2020 04:03 am (UTC)