Category Archives: Literature

Mary Shelley – Frankenstein

Rather different from the Mel Brooks version. It is also structured similarly to the movie Inception. It starts with a sailor’s letters to his sister during an Arctic voyage. He happens upon Frankenstein, who tells his story to the sailor, who relates it in his letters home. Frankenstein runs into hist monster in the middle of his story, who then tells his story to Frankenstein, who relays it to the sailor, who re-relays it in his letters home. From there its works it way back up one level at a time, back to Frankenstein’s story, and ends with the sailor’s letters, written in his own voice.

There is also an unattributed cameo appearance of Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarian calculus, which was gaining fame right around Shelley’s time. Frankenstein is also regarded as one of, if not the, very first modern science fiction story. It’s a good story, too, with many poignant turns of phrase.

Joseph Heller – Catch-22

The funniest thing I’ve read in years. In the book, Catch-22 is a fictional rule that fighter pilots cannot fly combat missions if they are insane. But asking out of a mission is proof of sanity, so such pilots therefore must fly combat missions. Similar plays on logic occur throughout the book, making the Abbott and Costello-style back-and-forths even funnier. Other hijinks range from typical young male bawdiness to hilariously petty infighting among the commanding officers, to some of the pilots making some money on the side by using military aircraft to make trade runs to nearby cities, even cornering the markets in various commodities.

The rampant mirth and cynicism only magnify the poignant and tragic scenes, making the book’s anti-war message hit home on multiple fronts. The light makes the shade even darker.

Robert Heinlein – Time Enough for Love

Inspired by the Arabian Nights, Heinlein pieces together a number of stories starring Lazarus Long, a long-lived recurring character of Heinlein’s who is more than 2,000 years old at the time of this book. He is a bit of anti-hero, and more than a little entertaining. This is Heinlein’s longest book, but in practice it is more of a short story collection. They stories share a free, adventurous, can-do, earthy, but overly macho spirit that Heinlein readers will know well. One note of caution: the final story is disturbing, and I do not say this lightly. I do not want to know what was going through Heinlein’s head when he wrote it.

Robert Heinlein – Friday

The beginning is entirely too graphic for my taste, but once it settles down Heinlein builds a compelling title character with depth and nuance. He conveys a strong anti-racism message, along with all his usual anti-authoritarianism, creative family and social arrangements, celebration of subterfuge, and mockery of factional politics.

Jonathan Gottschall – The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Gottschall’s scholarly mission is to make the humanities more scientific. Specialization is important, but not at the cost of ignoring what other disciplines are doing. I wholeheartedly endorse this approach, despite specializing in economics. The humanities, other social sciences, and even actual sciences all factor into my work.

Gottschall’s native discipline is English, but this book incorporates psychology and evolutionary biology to make a compelling and plausible thesis. Why do humans tell stories? Most people will say it’s because we enjoy them. Yes, Gottschall asks, but why? He finds an evolutionary purpose—when kids play pretend or adults read a novel, they’re practicing. They learn empathy and put themselves in other people’s shoes. That improves social skills, and improves survival—and without harmful consequences when failure occurs.

Most stories also involve some kind of conflict or troubles. This also has instructional value, so we evolved to find stories without conflict or trouble boring. Dreams are the same way—they nearly always involve some kind of trouble or unease. More pleasant dreams and stories are wasted cognitive effort, with no social or evolutionary payoff. Stories make us better prepared for real life situations, so no wonder we’re wired to naturally crave them, same as we do sex or food.

Mark Dunn – Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

A great read for lovers of language. Dunn is both playful and makes a serious point about freedom of expression. He tells the story of the island of Nollop, named for the man who wrote a 35-letter sentence containing every letter of the alphabet: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

One by one, the letters fall off a statue of Nollop containing the phrase, leading the island council to ban writing or speaking words containing those letters. Those letters also disappear from the book, making for very interesting reading as more and more letters fall. As the quality of life and language deteriorate—the two are closely related—the characters feverishly work to find a solution.