“Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari

This book is a veritable powerhouse of history, sociology, psychology, science, and anthropology. There’s even basic economics included in here. And of course it’s all very accessible even if you’re like me and have had little experience with most of these subjects before. Many concepts are illustrated with a diagram, and Harari’s writing is simultaneously informative and a joy to read.

Harari takes us through the history of Earth starting with physics, and how the world began. Then there’s chemistry, the different atoms composing matter, and finally biology and the world of cells. From there he switches and starts to talk about how mankind evolved through the ages, and the different theories of how it happened. Each proposal is annotated with the various evidence for and against, so all sides are presented (the book was published in 2014 I believe, all information is up to date until then as far as I know). The results of changes are also expounded upon, the reader learns that agriculture is really an elaborate hoax that in the end harmed much more than it helped.

The history then continues through ancient times, all the way up to the present and beyond. What makes this history interesting is that Harari deconstructs several systems that we tend to take for granted. The power of myths is especially discussed, and the various forms that they can take. There’s money, for instance. He explains money as an elaborate trust system between peoples, and dives into how money originated and why it was practical. In this manner, many innovations are explained through why they were implemented, how they came into widespread use, and what the results were.

Probably the most fascinating part is the end though. Here Harari takes a look at violence and happiness throughout history, to see if they have increased or decreased. Unsurprisingly, we end up more uncertain than when we started. While it is likely that violence has declined, Harari also notes that looking at violence as a whole does not take into account individual experiences. The same is true for happiness, which as a biological has not changed much, but various social factors around that have changed.

This book was fascinating to read and the writing style made it entertaining, rather than dry like most textbooks that tackle history. There is so much information within the pages, and much of it seems surprising, but makes intuitive sense. It is as though we have been looking at the tapestry of humans this whole time, but Harari is plucking out individual threads that make us who we are. I’m excited to read other works by him.

Living in Bethesda

So it’s been over six months since I moved to Bethesda, MD after graduation. I think I’m qualified now to give my thoughts on what it’s like to live here.

First of all, the Washington DC metro area is not nearly as political as you would think. I thought that there would be tons of politicians and their crews everywhere, but that’s really not the case. There’s also a very vibrant arts scene, and because of the NIH there’s also a lot of scientists trying to stay out of politics and just get their work done.

In particular, all of the arts have me really impressed. Tons of bands come through here on tour, and there is a surplus of jazz clubs in the U St area and in downtown Bethesda as well. It makes it easier for a liberal arts college grad to find a creative outlet!

In general though, the area is very walkable (North Bethesda less so) especially in downtown DC. The metro is probably better than NYC’s, and cleaner as well. (It’d just be nice if it stopped catching on fire and ran later at night…) There is also certainly more breathing room and personal space than NYC or other packed cities.

To sum up: I’ve really liked living here! It’s beautiful here, and there’s always plenty going on. Come visit!

“Norse Mythology” by Neil Gaiman

This book is Gaiman’s retelling of several classic Norse myths. It’s not an original story of his, it’s how he interprets and elaborates on the myths that we know about the Norse gods.

Honestly this seemed kind of run-of-the-mill to me. It felt very similar to any book of Greek/Roman or Norse myths that you come across when you’re younger and your parents want you to be somewhat cultured so they get you a book of myths. The only real difference is that it has Gaiman’s writing style to it.

To the author’s credit, more Norse myth retellings are much more inaccessible than this, but there are some other good ones out there. But he doesn’t really elaborate on the personalities of the characters, and they seem fairly standard. Thor is still the powerful guy who isn’t that bright, and Loki is the charming trickster.

If you are into Norse myths, check it out, but it isn’t super special in and of itself. If you aren’t into Norse mythology, you should reconsider that and find a book on them, because they are super fascinating and deserve a little more recognition in today’s world. This book does help that cause, but honestly I think it could have done better.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

I’m a little late to the bandwagon here, this book spectacularly resurfaced when it was made into a tv show on Hulu and everyone suddenly decided to read the book again. I hadn’t read it before, so here we are.

In the introduction, Atwood says that she was writing this in the eighties and that what she wanted to do with this book was create a future that was shocking, but that didn’t have anything wholly original about it. She just borrowed what other totalitarian or theocracies did in the past and synthesize something new from them. Like it says towards the end, there isn’t anything new about this world, it’s just the specific synthesis of ideas.

Having pointed that out, yeah, I think it’s possible for America to become a world like this someday. Which is why the tv show is so relevant, since the election everyone has been terrified of something like this happening to us. And the parallels to Nazi Germany are quite clear; I’ve always maintained that if it could happen to them, it could happen to us. There is nothing fundamentally different about us now that makes contemporary America immune to hate and prejudice. Recent events have made that quite clear.

What I thought was very unique about this book though is its narrative structure. It’s entirely written in the first person, but as we learn, women aren’t allowed to read or write anymore. So throughout the story, the reader assumes that it’s simply the stream of consciousness of the narrator, a direct pipeline to her thoughts. However, at the end we learn through a fake historical gathering that this is actually a transcription of a set of tapes found. The narration is all dictated, and possibly out of order.

This throws an entirely new light on it, if the story could be out of order, then the flashbacks might not be flashbacks at all but errors in ordering the story. Which is an interesting idea, but changing around the story doesn’t really get us anywhere. But then there’s the fact that Offred (the narrator) spends plenty of time reflecting on her role as a storyteller. If this is dictated rather than a thought process, that gives her musings about who exactly this story is for a little more credibility. If we were reading her mind, there is no way that she intended that for anyone, what’s in your head tends to stay there. But it also makes her considerably more self-aware, it’s one thing to recognize that you are a flawed narrator, but it is another thing entirely to spend time on a tape talking about it. I think that it adds plenty of depth to her character, and the epilogue gives a nice ending and way to wrap up some loose ends in a satisfying way, even if most of our questions remain unanswered.

“Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” by Atul Gawande

When I opened this book, I realized that I had read it years ago, and that it had inspired the 12-year-old me to really resist becoming a doctor. No, I was into science, I wanted everything to be clear cut and not involve messy human beings. At its heart, this is a book about how messy and imperfect we can be. There’s stories about doctor screw-ups and how they deal with the fact that we never can be certain what is going on inside another human body.

As time went on though, I came back to medicine. Because the reality of the world is that science can be just as messy as human beings are. We never really know what it is that is driving a certain mechanism in biology, this is just what all the data points to. And when the data points to something else, we change our theory. Medicine is not the only uncertain science out there, ALL of science is uncertain.

But what makes medicine unique is the profoundly human nature of it. The errors in science are errors of interpretation, we look at the data and misread it. Errors in medicine arise from miscommunications between doctors and patients, or mistaking individual differences in patients for problems relating to their illness. The process of diagnosis involves more cooperation and instinct than we’d like to believe.

Which is why books like this (or anything Gawande has written really) are so important. He peels back the veneer from medicine and shows the messy insides. Which scares us, as it did me years ago, but also reveals it as one of the most personal and human ways of understanding the world around, and within, each of us.

“Illness as Metaphor” by Susan Sontag

This is an unusual book in that it does not discuss what it is like to be sick, just how we perceive those that are sick. Specifically, Sontag focuses on cancer and tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was a disease of the Victorian era, while cancer is more modern. She goes through works of literature, history, and even science fiction in her analysis. Although this was published in the 70s, it’s amazing to see how little has changed in the perception of these diseases today.

One point that I found fascinating was how those with these sicknesses reflect the ills of society. Tuberculosis is a disease of passions, of excesses. Those with TB are said to acquire a mysterious aura, to the point where some people wanted to get TB to be more appealing to ladies. In contrast, cancer is an individual disease that destroys us from the inside out. Someone with cancer wastes away, their hair falling out and confined to a bed hooked up to chemo. It is associated with repressing emotions. Both diseases’ portrayals reflect the society around them to an extent. Victorian era people would repress their sexuality for fear of taboos, while today we find ourselves increasingly more cut off from each other and only interact through the internet.

Sontag’s point with this is that we have all of these misconceptions about sickness, we think that these diseases are a punishment on the sick, we think that only certain personality types contract these diseases, etc. However, that is not the case. Acknowledging these misconceptions that we hold will lead to a better treatment of the sick, and a better understanding of their troubles. Only then can we alleviate their suffering.

“The Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande

This book is titled a “manifesto” and it certainly seems like it. This is Gawande making his case for surgeons and those in medicine to adopt a checklist for use in their operating rooms to make sure that they don’t forget the little details in their work. Having said that, it reads more as a narrative about how he came to the conclusion that checklists would be beneficial (almost essential) in medicine.

This narrative starts with Gawande wondering how big buildings and other works of architecture are built. It’s not that different from surgery after all, you have a project that needs to be completed within a time frame, and mistakes could be disastrous. Turns out that construction workers use an enormous checklist with everything that has to be done, and when. The amount of knowledge involved in constructing a building is far beyond any one person’s capabilities, so there is input from all of the different utilities and builders in forming the list. Then to deal with unexpected problems, they have a schedule of when people will meet with each other and discuss aspects of the building before moving forward. Even their collaboration is built into the schedule!

From there, Gawande describes how pilots and air crew have a similar game plan, and their training is such that they always turn to a checklist when taking off, landing, or dealing with crises. They also have a solid foundation in teamwork when flying. That’s why occurrences like the miracle on the Hudson happened, the entire crew worked together to make it happen. And the pilots had a checklist.

In the early 2000s there was a series of meetings involving physicians from around the world to make surgeries safer. Gawande suggested a sort of checklist to standardize procedures and remind surgeons of the basics. There were many pitfalls, such as cutting the checklist down and not including everything in it, but in the end the trial of the checklist system was a rather unexpected success!

Of course, some doctors are loathe to use it. As far as I can tell, their main objection is pride. They think that they don’t need these little reminders, they are on top of things. However as numerous anecdotes point out, yeah, you do need the checklist. Gawande himself shares an instance where using the checklist saved his patient’s life. He also points out that if we had a drug that improved performance as much as the checklist, hospitals all over the world would be fighting for it. But since it’s a boring checklist, implementing it has been a struggle.

Besides thinking about checklists, this book also made me think about leadership. Gawande doesn’t hesitate to point out the fact that most surgeons run their operating rooms like a dictatorship and often nurses are reluctant to point out when they might have forgotten something. Using a checklist and going through the items as a team created a better sense of unity in the OR and fostered teamwork. As a leader, you have to think of the balance between you telling people what to do and everyone working together. Gawande argues for more collaboration, especially within medicine. Architects have learned that there is too much information for one person to know everything, but medicine has yet to catch up. Where do I fall on that scale? I like to think that I’m very collaborative, but where could I improve? Clearly the checklist system has implications beyond those suggested here, and is an important tactic for anyone in a leadership role.

“The Language of God” by Francis Collins

I wasn’t expecting much from this book. I’m not much of a believer myself, and I regard anyone who tries to change my mind with a veeeeeery healthy dose of skepticism. But as I continued through this book, a few things set it apart in my mind.

First of all, Collins isn’t trying to convince anyone that you NEED God in your life. What he’s saying is that science and religion CAN be compatible. Whether or not you actually have the two in your life is up to you. Just know that you have the option.

Second, Collins frames his points in a series of questions (or objections) and answers. In this way, the thoughts that pop up to the reader are readily addressed in the book. Many of his responses come from other religious scholars, primarily C.S. Lewis. Clearly he has done his research. Many of the responses are also put into the context of Collins’ life and the doubts that he went through.

Which is another nice aspect of the book, Collins takes us through his own journey as an agnostic and eventually to faith. As a scientist, it’s nice to see the path that he has taken and be able to relate to the various steps along the way. Collins was in charge of the Human Genome Project, so the science that he explains is very well-written and accurate as well.

Finally, at the end he includes a brief section on bioethics and how religious views play into that. It’s so refreshing to hear a religious perspective that denounces all of the crazies out there that deny evolution or are stubbornly against stem cell research without bothering to learn about what they are. Once again, Collins demonstrates that he has done the background research and is amazingly capable of translating it to an ordinary audience.

I’m not any more of a religious person for reading this book, but I feel as though I have a more nuanced understanding of it and how it interacts with science. And a little understanding can make all the difference, give it a shot if you are religious, a scientist, or both.

“Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance” by Atul Gawande

Medicine is usually seen as a field where improvement is based on new innovations, where research gives the push to make things better. However, as Gawande illustrates here, improvements need to come from doctors themselves, through introspection and a willingness to be open about our areas of weakness.

He brings up a number of issues that I had never considered before. For example, there is a chapter dedicated to doctors who assist with fatal injections being used on death row inmates. I had never thought about that much, but it does make sense to have a doctor there, to make sure that the injection isn’t botched. But it also makes sense that the official stance of the American Medical Association (AMA) is against this. They see it as a breach of a doctor’s responsibility to heal and provide life to patients, not taking it away. Gawande tracked down a number of doctors involved in lethal injections and shares their stories and reasons for participating.

There are more mundane topics covered, such as hand washing and protocol for performing potentially intimate physical examinations. What makes medicine specifically so interesting is its blend of social and scientific factors. The way you handle yourself with a patient matters just as much as the care you are giving them. In the physical examinations chapter, he discusses how doctors can use chaperones to lessen this, as well as simply in general keeping their patients informed of what is about to happen to their bodies.

At the end of the book, Gawande gives some tips to those in the medical field who want to be doing the best that they possibly can. In list form, these are “ask an unscripted question,” get to know the patient or your co-worker as a person and not just a part of your job; “don’t complain,” a doctor’s life is hard but that doesn’t mean that you have to dwell on that; “count something,” observe what around you works and what doesn’t; “write something,” keep your mind sharp by noting down observations; and “change,” be willing to change yours and others behaviors to make medicine a better place. Just through these suggestions, you can see Gawande’s focus on the humanity of medicine, his desire to see his patients as people. You can also see his desire to make medicine better by using the skills we already have. By appealing to the instincts that doctors already possess, he is trying to take the resources we all have and point them towards a goal. Which builds off of a number of chapters, whether it’s doctors monitoring their hand washing or surgeons in India performing surgery with whatever meager tools around them.

I think anyone can learn from this book, whether you are involved in the medical field or not. But having an interest in medicine doesn’t hurt here, as the stories he is telling are fascinating and eye-opening. Any job can use a healthy dose of introspection to make it better, whether you are in business or just a student. The point is to learn from the work that Gawande has done here in a specific field and then apply it to whatever field of your choosing. I can’t wait to see what you accomplish.

“The Heart” by Maylis de Kerangal (translated by Sam Taylor)

This is a work of fiction centering around a heart transplant. Which means that our young donor, Simon, dies less than 20 pages in. This definitely isn’t a depressing story; it is more about life than it is about death. The narrative intimately describes the lives of everyone involved in this procedure, from Simon’s friends to the nurse in the ICU to the recipient of his heart.

The writing (and the translation) of this book is absolutely gorgeous, sentences seem to flow on ad infinetum giving the story a unique pacing and feel. Actions are often written as long descriptions, giving the reader an impression of motion and occurrences that meld together to create the scene rather than a direct line of cause and effect. It flows beautifully and makes it a joy to read.

Of course, this book also discusses the symbolic nature of the heart, through Simon’s girlfriend and love of surfing. Repeatedly it is wondered if the recipient of his heart will enjoy hearing the sound of waves, if the heart will retain some memory of being Simon’s. But the story is more based on realism than anything else, so the recipient never has any knowledge of Simon, and hospital policies of anonymity are accurately described.

The story begins by describing the heart within Simon, but it ends with the surgeons closing up the incisions on the recipient. We never get to hear about how the heart does under new management, or what the recipient even feels with it inside her. It’s an interesting choice for an ending, and one that makes it clear that the focus of this story is on the heart itself, not on the lives around it. It’s an interesting take on modern medicine, and one that blends together the symbolic and medical aspects of heart transplants.

“Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande

This book is essentially about how we take care of those who are about to die in contemporary society. And no surprise, we’re going about it in the wrong way. Medicine tends to push for patients to always try a different treatment, another surgery, keep doing something to attack the disease. However, if you aren’t strong enough for the continued treatment, this actually shortens your lifespan and increases suffering.

Now the alternative is to talk and come to terms with your inevitable death in order to plan for it. But no one wants to do that! We’d rather live with the illusion that we are going to live forever, and keep striving to maintain perfect health, even when our bodies are crumbling beyond repair. What with the fact that some patients are termed “fighters” it can seem as though the alternative is giving up and giving in to the disease. But we are all going to die at some point, and it is essential to recognize when this is going to happen and meet it with grace. It can be hard for doctors, and families, to have conversations about this and how to proceed, but they prove essential to dying on your own terms and in the way that you want to go.

Gawande gives several tips to facing this conversation. Don’t be Dr. Informative, presenting all the different options and letting the patient pick from them. Instead, be a doctor that sees the whole picture and tries to take the patient’s wishes into account for how they want to live. What does the patient understand about their situation? What are their fears? What would they define as a good life? What are they willing to compromise now for the chance of something better later? The answers to these questions probably won’t be obvious, even for those close to the patient, but they give clear directions on how to proceed with treatment.

Having watched my grandparents succumb to disease a few years ago, I now realize how well they had it, but also what we could have done better. I have no idea if my dad had them answer these questions, but maybe I should have talked to them on my own, and asked how I could make their end of life better. I was in high school and while I wasn’t scared of death I still didn’t want to face it. Taking care of them was on my list of things to avoid around the house, not embrace.

For all that though, my grandparents had it pretty good. They were not stuck in a hospital where they had no autonomy and couldn’t make any choices about their lives, they lived at home with us up until the end. My parents made sure that they had the help and support that they needed. They were able to maintain control and keep their family around them until the end.

I’m not sure how my grandparents wanted to spend the end of their days, but I think they were comfortable and happy. I just wish that I was there for them more. Having read this book, I think I will be there for whoever needs me next.

“Adventures of a Female Medical Detective” by Mary Guinan

This book was really interesting! It’s written by Dr. Guinan who has spent most of her life working for the CDC on public health issues. I had never really considered public health an exciting field before, but she’s been all over the world working to eradicate smallpox and educate the public on STDs.

The various stigmas that she has faced as someone working on STDs demonstrate how important it is that the public have access to accurate information about diseases and that we continually work against myths. Many of the AIDS patients that she saw were abandoned by their families and wasting away. Her work with syphilis was similar, people saw it as a way to punish sinners.

It's a short read, but an interesting one. I wish that she went into more detail about her own life, but my guess is that she wanted to stay focused on the cases that she was presenting. There’s a varied mix of them, including when she was an expert witness and when she was in India combatting smallpox. She’s lived a full life, and it’s fascinating to hear about her adventures.

"The Gene: An Intimate History" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

This is Mukherjee's second book, after "The Emperor of all Maladies" and it is just as prolific as the first one. He describes this as a prequel to "Emperor" in the sense that cancer is a genetic disease, so in describing cancer he is describing how genes go wrong. While both books compliment each other, it is also fine to read them separately. Honestly, this book is very similar to "Emperor", nearly all the comments that I had for one apply to the other.

When Mukherjee titled this "An Intimate History" he meant it. Similar to "Emperor" there are many stories of patients and their lives, as well as the researchers who sought to help them. In this novel he also brings in his own family (similar to Carla from "Emperor") to illustrate how genes have impacted him personally through his family tree.

Mukherjee takes us through genetics and the idea of a gene all the way from Mendel and Darwin to the present day. He does not shy away from ethical dilemmas, and discusses the future and the wonders we will be able to perform then. But he cautions against taking this power too far, after all there are no "right" or "wrong" genes, just genes that are better suited to different environments.

He also includes a brief discussion on genetic investigations into sexuality and gender. While he presents a good overview of the findings, he leans heavily towards the genes = gender idea (note that I did not say genitals, I am referring to the Y chromosome here, which can be suppressed and results in what is considered as female genitalia), which I am hesitant about. Because there will always be one person who reads that and disagrees and is alienated by the text. So there could be more nuance to that discussion, but the science appears sound, just be cautious treading here.

One thing that I was surprised he didn't talk about was GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. These are usually crops that have been altered to express different genes. Such as rice that is more water-resistant, or corn with added nutrients. There has been a lot of controversy over GMOs lately, since people think that they are dangerous and only want "natural" foods. Which is kind of funny really, as there is no such thing as "natural" crops, we have been selecting genes for centuries and breeding the best ones, creating GMOs is akin to taking that process and speeding it up a little. There is nothing dangerous about it. Anyways, while Mukherjee ignores GMOs, he does talk about stem cell research which is more interesting anyways.

Another great book from Mukherjee that makes science accessible to the general public. I would highly recommend it, whether you are studying genetics or just mildly interested in the field.

“Redefining Realness” by Janet Mock

If you want to be a successful ally to trans people, then the first step is to educate yourself. And one of the best ways to go about doing that is to read their stories and acknowledge their hardships. Mock’s story is honest and powerful, and told in such a way where she includes the stories of those around her, noting where her experiences aren’t typical of the greater trans community.

Providing the context to her story is crucial, as right now we need more intersectionality in our portrayal of LGBTQ+ community. Many high-profile trans people are white and upper-class, which unintentionally erases the stories of anyone who does not fit that description. Mock is of mixed-race, and grew up without that much money. Even so, she still acknowledges that there are many trans youths that did not have a supportive family like she did, and cites statistics frequently.

She also critiques our treatment of trans individuals in contemporary society. Valuing those who “pass” more than those who do not look cis-gender (cis refers to those that identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) creates a notion that trans individuals are trying to pretend to be something they are not. This is a false notion, since there is no one way to be a woman and no one way to express that identity. She also discusses how the burden of “coming out” and letting everyone know that you are trans is often heaped on the trans individual, again seen as living a lie, and people are angry when they find out that they have been lied to. But this is ridiculous, trans people are just trying to live their lives, they are not responsible for telling their life’s story to everyone that they meet.

In all honestly, this is one of the most eye-opening books that I’ve read. Mock discusses being trans, female, mixed-race, sex workers, and many other things through her tale. Her pathway is full of hope and lessons that anyone can learn and grow from. Now, more than ever, we need to listen to those members of marginalized communities (such as trans people) that can make themselves heard and support them through whatever means we can. Because the government certainly isn’t.

“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion

Towards the end of 2003, Didion’s daughter caught a flu that then turned into a coma. While she was still under, her husband John died suddenly at the dinner table. Her daughter recovered, but almost immediately after had to go back in for surgery. This is an account of that year, and Didion’s attempt to make some sense out of it.

This book is clearly written by a writer. Which sounds like an obvious statement, but what I mean is that Didion clearly loves reading and writing, and it shows here. There are numerous references to literary works that discuss death and grieving afterwards. Her writing also flows easily, as though this was a stream of her thoughts over the year. The sections don’t flow chronologically, but there are underlying themes that connect the chapters.

There are many single lines of a few texts that repeatedly are highlighted to demonstrate these themes. One good example is Gawain predicting his own death, to connect anecdotes about how Didion thought her husband must have known about his imminent demise. Or how the family continually says to each other “more than one more day” to express their love.

It’s an honest and beautiful depiction of what it is like to lose someone after having been close to them for years. You watch Didion’s struggles to continue with her life, and the challenges she faced within her head and out of it. I might check out her and her husband’s other works now, they are probably as wonderfully written as this is.

“Demonosity” by Amanda Ashby

This is another young adult novel with an asexual character (similar to “Guardian of the Dead”). It’s definitely not as well-written as the other book, there were some plot points that I could see coming, and the characters were maybe not as believable. But overall, still an enjoyable read.

In terms of the characters, Nash is probably the best one, since the others are kind of cookie cutter archetypes. He’s asexual, and loves old books about Renaissance times. Both he and the asexual character from “Guardian of the Dead” seem to fall into the same trope of “really attractive male who’s not interested” which bugs me a little bit. First of all, this equates asexuality with aromanticism, and there are also many more asexual narratives out there! But since they are both represented well, I can’t really complain about them otherwise.

For the other characters, yeah they tend to fall into tropes. There are some exceptions, such as Celeste, (by far the best plot point involves her reversing a trope) but overall they seem pretty generic. Such as the new, hot boy turning out to be involved in everything mysterious happening. I mean, of course.

The plot is a little out there, some things could have used deeper clarification. Such as the fact that the twins from fourteenth century France are actually like 15 years old. I assumed that they were adults until love and relationships got involved and after that was pretty shocked. And Nash just seemed to accept Cassidy’s explanation for things without questioning them, which seemed out of character for such a bookworm. A little more work could have been done there.

Having said all that, the ending decision does kind of make up for it. Not going to spoil it, but there is a recurring theme where Cassidy cannot make a decision about anything small. And that turns out to her advantage. It’s an unconventional ending, and one that redeems the story.

It’s a young adult novel, a little on the typical side. But it has it’s redeeming qualities, one of which being that you genuinely like the characters despite (or because of) the archetypes being used. Give it a try if you want an easier read.

“We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This book (or extended essay really, it’s very short) is based on a TEDx Talk that the author gave (find here), and the two are pretty similar. I had no idea that this started as a TED Talk, give it a watch if you can’t find a copy of the book anywhere. One thing to note is that this talk was at a conference about specifically African topics, and she uses that context many times.

This is a very powerful work, Adichie discusses many aspects of feminism including its stigma and effects on both men and women. All of her points are illustrated with anecdotes from her life, giving it a personal feel. She also goes over possible objections to feminism, and why they are not relevant or accurate.

At its core this is a call to action, for both men and women. Ultimately, men are hurt by masochism as well, and unless more men start thinking about gender and how it affects those hurt by it, we probably won’t get anywhere. (I hate to say it, but that’s probably the truth. We need men to be more on board with feminism and realize when inequality is present instead of just dismissing it.) This work is so short I finished it in one sitting, therefore everyone out there has the time for it as well. Read it!

“The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee

I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this book. It was recommended to me by a friend who knew that I was interested in medicine and diseases, but I couldn’t tell whether it would be a history, medicine, biographic, scientific, or a memoir. Somehow, it’s a combination of all of those categories.

Mukherjee starts by introducing the reader to one of his patients, Carla. She develops leukemia as an adult, and her story is interwoven through the history of cancer as the author shows its path throughout human history. Mukherjee starts at the very beginning, with the mention of cancer in an Ancient Egyptian scroll. From there, he traces the documentation of it onwards, through the ancient world, the progression of surgery, to chemotherapy, and into the modern day.

The combination of showing the historical and scientific progression of cancer on one hand, and the patients the author has personally treated on the other, makes the work both universal and deeply intimate. We know as readers that the author knows what he’s talking about, because he has seen much of it first-hand. He even hunted down a few key patients and physicians to interview them for this work.

Mukherjee masterfully takes complex biological concepts and breaks them down for the average reader, so all of his thoughts are easily discernable. It is always a challenge when writing about science to not simplify so much as to make the concepts inaccurate, but he does a good job of putting more nit-picky qualifiers within the footnotes. This keeps the clarity intact for readers, but also maintains the accuracy of the text.

What I was most surprised about was the depth of literary thought within this book. Mukherjee takes cancer apart historically, but then also puts it into context of the mindset towards cancer of the age. Symbolically, cancer can be pretty powerful. Mukherjee discusses how this disease is a mutation of our normal cells, and therefore is the body turned against itself. It has come to represent the modern age in a similar way to how TB represented the Victorian Era, and is also compared to the AIDS epidemic in the 80s. Mukherjee involves quite a bit of depth in his analysis of the social and symbolic significance of this disease, where I expected a drier historical or scientific approach.

The result is that this is a very unique and powerful book. Even if you know nothing of cancer, you can easily keep up with the scientific developments as they are explained here. Or if you know quite a bit of the science, you can gain from the historical context. Many different aspects of the disease are illuminated here, all succinctly and clearly. I would highly recommend giving it a read!

“The Trespasser” by Tana French

As you may have noticed, I am really into French’s novels. She does a wonderful job with writing mystery stories and creating characters that are borderline assholes, but still making you care about them. Her portrayal of Dublin is also spot on and demonstrates what Ireland is like, down to the most mundane details. I’m hooked.

In this latest installment, she focuses on Detectives Conway and Moran as they get their first real murder case that isn’t a simple domestic or bar fight. Conway is the narrator and often discusses how she feels alone on the squad as the only female D and the rest of the male D’s want her gone. This results in the added factor of having the detectives not trust their own squad and having to be careful around them as well as the witnesses and suspects.

In fact, at multiple points the reader does not know who to trust. This includes the various characters but also the narrator herself makes it abundantly clear that her knowledge is incomplete and often paranoid. Which really shows off how French can get right inside her character’s heads, so much so that you can point out their flaws and weaknesses.

What’s interesting in this book is also how it’s slightly different from her other novels in terms of how it ends. Most of her other books involve someone’s last case on the squad, as they have to leave or resign or whatever afterwards. This book is similar, but there’s a twist on it in that you think it’s obvious how and who are leaving, but then it changes and it alters again. Wish I could talk more, but you really have to read it for yourself.

As usual, a winner from French, and I hope she writes about this pair of cops again. She usually swaps protagonists every book, but I really liked these two. Usually there’s one or two characters that get reused book to book (Quigley seems to be incompetent in nearly every installment), so they might pop up again in the future, who knows.

The World Ends With You: A Retrospective

So you may remember my earlier post about a Nintendo DS game from 2007 called “The World Ends With You.” Every once in a while I get the urge to replay that game, and this summer I went through the whole thing again. It’s still amazing, with a powerful message, unique gameplay, and memorable characters. There’s a reason why it has a dedicated (if small) fan base online.

This game dropped while I was on the verge of going from middle school to high school. Not exactly the easiest part of a person’s life. I picked up this game because I saw a ton of hype for it online, and thought that it looked interesting. Not exaggerating here, I think it was formative for me to be playing this game during these years.

Back in those days, I was starting to get into thinking about philosophy, and how I want to live my life. This isn’t the only piece of culture that influenced it, there was also Ishmael by David Quinn and other various works that turned me into more philosophy. But this game was influential because of its message about opening yourself up to other people.

“The world ends with you” is a sentence dropped by the archetypal teacher in the game, instructing the protagonist to quit holing himself in and talk to other people. It doesn’t refer to the end of the world or any of that dystopian stuff, it actually refers to the world inside of your head. To the literal world that ends with you. To grow and change you need to open up to people, talk to them, and expand your world bit by bit. If you stay stuck in your own world, it’ll never grow, and you’ll never learn or change. That’s not a way to live.

(Note: in Japan, the game’s name is “It’s a Wonderful World” which, to me, is less related to the message of the game and I don’t like it as much. But to each his own.)

This message is so important now, more than ever. People are being trapped inside their own way of thinking and ignoring everything that comes into conflict with it. People aren’t bothering to clash and learn from each other, they’d rather ignore it and continue down the path of ignorance. This isn’t going to solve anything, these problems are just going to fester and grow until we have a major problem on our hands. And I’m not immune to it either, we all need to seek out and talk to people that disagree with us and expand our world and theirs to solve any problem.

But there still isn’t a sequel to this game, even though it’s been nearly 10 years now. The signs are there, it could easily get one. The bonus chapter at the end alludes to it, and when they released the mobile version there was the image of a new character who could possibly be in another game. Specifically, in Another Day when you find Mr. H he says something along the lines of “you want to help me huh? Well that time could be sooner than you think.” Mr. H it’s been 10 years! I want to help you!

I hope that Square Enix doesn’t forget about this great game, or the fans that it has inspired over the years. Video games can create so much good in the world, as they are another way to consume stories and grow from them. It would be wonderful to see it get more attention and support, as it certainly deserves it. I know that I, personally, won’t be forgetting about this game anytime soon.

Arcade Fire: “Everything Now”

I’ve been a big fan of Arcade Fire for a while now, but this new album has blown me away. You need to get the physical CD in order to really get what the band is saying, it’s very clever.

The cover art features the title of the album “Everything Now” as a neon sign on a gate. The scene looks desolate, but there’s also a color and a vibrancy to it. The dust jacket adds tiny hand drawn stars to the sky, and there is a texture to the mountain, but only above the gate. Flip it over and there’s a small figure of a horse (the figure is also textured, and has more stars) and some small fires. There’s also a “For Sale By Owner” sign, the owner is Arcade Fire, unsurprisingly. The dust jacket on the back reads “Everything Now Presents Arcade Fire in partnership with” and then it lists the titles of the songs on the album.

The lyrics sheet deserves an award or something, it’s designed to look like a coupon booklet. The titles of the songs are the different products being advertised, and the price instead displays how long the song is. There are also pictures of the “products” being sold, such as a green shirt for “Peter Pan” or marshmallows for “Creature Comfort.” And of course there’s the lyrics instead of descriptions.

We haven’t even started listening to the music and there’s already a statement being made about consumerism. The cover art hints at a dark side to all this, with the brush fires on the back and the empty landscape. This only continues with the lyrics.

It starts with “Everything Now,” a song where the refrain is “you’ve got everything now/I need it/everything now/I want it/everything now/I can’t live without/everything now.” The dark side is clearly evident in the verses, as the singer tells us to “stop pretending” or asks his dad why he isn’t around. The “shit I couldn’t live without” is everywhere, without any empty spaces. “Every inch of road’s got a sign” just as the essential clutter has filled up the narrator’s life. I could probably go on and on about this one song, but you get the idea. We have so much and it’s all just shit, we don’t have anything meaningful, we’re just pretending. Remember how the lyrics sheet is a coupon book? Yeah, that shit.

We continue on to “Signs of Life.” The chorus here is “looking for signs of life. Looking for signs every night, but there’s no signs of life. So we do it again.” What I think they’re getting at here is that as a result of having everything we’ve forgotten how to live, there’s no life anywhere. Third song is “Creature Comfort,” which is fairly self-explanatory. The song talk about people being unhappy and attempting suicide, saying that they either want to be famous or have a painless death. Either they are turned into the materialistic, perfect objects around them or they’re done living. “Peter Pan,” the next song, is kind of the opposite. It idealizes childhood by comparing the person’s old lover to Wendy and Peter Pan. Together they can escape this madness.

Skip ahead to “Infinite Content.” This song is actually a play on words, they’ve got infinite content, and are now infinitely content. (But are they though?) There are two infinite contents, the second is slower and more mellow, it pretty effectively casts doubt on the second statement just with it’s mood.

“Good God Damn” is similar thematically to “Creature Comfort” but the thing holding people back from death is that maybe there’s a good God out there. Since “he made you” the possibility exists. This continues with “Put Your Money On Me” which changes the context of this consumerism. If the only thing good in life is other people, put your money on them instead of the objects that make you hate yourself.

However this idea gets flipped in “We Don’t Deserve Love.” Here the lover doesn’t think that they’re worthy of love, because that’s what they’ve heard their entire life. They hide and wait for a “Christ-type” to save them, when really all they have to do is “roll away the stone” and save themselves.

The ending brings us back to “Everything Now.” The narrator is “in the black again” and stuck in Everything Now, unable to escape without their lover. A depressing ending, but it tells us how to avoid the same fate. Valuing other people, loving other people, rather than monetary goods is what will get us out. Love is what will save us, more than any objects we can buy.

“You’ll Grow Out of It” by Jessi Klein

The contents of this book could be roughly summed up as a hilarious take on what it means to be a woman, but not in the stereotypical sense. I thought that I would detest this book. However, I was incredibly wrong.

Klein is a hilarious writer, she often talks about her experience with stand-up comedy and comedic writing. (Funnily enough, I went to the same undergrad college as her, which is where she started sketch writing.) She could be writing about anything and I’d probably listen and think that it was amusing just due to her writing style. Plenty of footnotes are used, more often than not to call herself out on whatever slight lie she stuck into the test. (These are usually about the amount of wine she was drinking, or something similar.) The whole thing is very conversational and feels as though the stories are being relayed to you by a friend instead of an author.

And the stories themselves are great. Each chapter deals with a separate topic, they run in a sort of rough chronological order, but not completely. And yeah, most of them are about not fitting into everyone’s idea of what a woman should be or act like. Speaking as someone who has struggled with this for her life, Klein just gets it. You get a great sense of what it’s like to be Klein, but in my experience, most women can find a piece of themselves within her voice.

So just goes to show that first impressions are still wrong, this book is entertaining, witty, insightful, and a pleasure to read. I can’t recommend it enough!

“The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath

I’ve been reluctant to pick this book up for quite some time, despite the fact that it’s been on my to read list for ages. I just always felt that since it was a classic, there was no way for it to live up to the hype. I feel a little differently now, after finishing it I think that it should be required reading for high schoolers, similar to The Catcher in the Rye, I can’t believe that they aren’t paired together. There’s a lot of similarities, but that isn’t really the focus of this.

For those who don’t know, The Bell Jar is the semi-autobiographical novel Plath wrote about a summer where she fell apart and tried to kill herself. It’s also her only novel, the rest of her writing is poetry. The protagonist, Esther, lives in New York City on scholarship and is working for a magazine. She doesn’t know what she wants to do for a career, but feels limited since she can only pick one thing to do. Heap on the fact that it seems like all the men in her life are pigs, and you can see why she starts coming apart.

Slowly she stops working on her writing and ultimately cannot find the will to eat, write, or even sleep. Having always been a straight-A student, she begins to fall behind and just cannot bring herself to start up again. She describes her mental condition as similar to being stuck in a bell jar, breathing her own air and unable to escape. This entire section I found very relatable, even in the modern era. For so much of the time students are put into competition against each other, and it feels as though if you get a bad grade you start to fall behind. For most of my schooling one of my biggest fears was to fall behind in classes and be unable to pick it up again, so I was quite like Esther, always studying out of lack of anything else to do and felt guilty when I wasn’t productive.

It reminded me a lot of “The Yellow Wallpaper” that short story where the husband is trying to restrict his wife by sticking her in a hospital. There are all of these nice boxes that Esther is considering doing as a career, one of which is being a housewife. A number of men try to seduce her, but she professes to not want to marry or have kids, and therefore they all lose interest in the end. She also sees right through them to all of their many flaws, and therefore she also loses interest in them. Her struggling to figure out where she belongs contributes to the bell jar closing in around her, as she cannot make up her mind what path to take and therefore does nothing.

There’s another side of it where you can see the medicine and how doctors dealt with mental health. Of course everyone was smoking back then. And the go-to treatment seemed to be rest, glucose, and shock therapy every once in a while. Another one of the characters had a lobotomy. All of which is horribly outdated now, you can even tell how the other characters treat Esther after she attempts suicide how taboo anything related to mental health is. I think it has improved since then, although there still is a fair bit of ground to cover.

This is a highly important book that more people need to read for a number of reasons. 1. It gives an honest look at what it is like to have a mental illness and be suicidal. 2. The trials of Esther and the other girls demonstrate how hard it was to be a woman back then, especially when dealing with men, sex, and marriage. 3. Class issues come up as well, Esther needs to work hard to keep her scholarship and her mother cannot afford all her medical bills eventually.

This book lies at the center of several issues, all of which are still relevant today. Sure the customs have changed and the details are different, but at the heart of it there is still the threat of the bell jar dropping down on any of us. And reading about one person’s journey through it can help you make it out yourself.

"Guardian of the Dead" by Karen Healey

I mainly picked up this book because there's an asexual character in it, and I wanted to see how he was portrayed in a typical YA fantasy fiction. 

Honestly, this is one of the more socially conscious works of YA fiction that I've read. Not only is there an asexual character, the protagonist's sister is gay, and she has a Muslim housemate. All of them are portrayed really well, we hear about struggles of coming out to friends and family and Ellie's housemate's fight to get halal meats in the dining halls. It does seem as though Healey is equating asexuality and aromanticism at times, but also sometimes not, it's a little unclear. The only other thing is that Ellie herself, the main character, is just a normal, heterosexual, white girl. I'd love to read a book like this where the asexual isn't the token best friend but is instead the hero. Maybe next time... Having said that Healey does pretty well with imbibing a more feminist tone to it, so that’s good.

Also a big part of the book incorporates Maoi culture and mythology. Which is really cool, it’s not usually focused on in teen lit. The theory behind all of the supernatural stuff is actually pretty similar to American Gods if anyone really enjoyed that sort of mythology-in-the-real-world type thing.

Other than the somewhat diverse characters, it's a typical YA story. Sassy female protagonist learns that her love interest has supernatural powers and that she has them as well! They fight and things. But I think that this is a good direction for books like this to go in, it has a little more to it than your typical teen novel.

“The Laws of Medicine” by Siddhartha Mukherjee

This book is actually a companion to the author's TED Talk, found here. He gained a lot of popularity as the author of "The Emperor of all Maladies" and "An Intimate History of the Gene" but in contrast to those, this book is very slim and easy to get through. He also speaks frequently about wanting to make science understandable to non-scientists, so don't let that aspect of it scare you off.

I hadn't watched the TED Talk before picking up this book, I just liked that it was a more introspective work about medicine and being a doctor. The focus of this piece is on how uncertain the practice of medicine can be. When you're younger, you think of doctors as just these magic people who can make everything better, but that illusion begins to fade as you get older and realize how imperfect their art is. Mukherjee's response to this was to look for the laws of medicine, the guiding principles. Similar to the laws of physics and chemistry, what did the practice of medicine always follow? (Sidebar: his TED talk is more about medicine in general, and they actually work as separate entities.)

He came up with three rules. The first one: "a strong intuition is better than a weak test". This is about how you need to have a context and a reason for performing tests on people, as false positives are rampant and you need to give the result meaning. Second, "typical results give us rules, outliers give us laws". This leads to a discussion of how even outliers contain meaning in their results, even if the researchers don't like to talk about them. Finally, "behind every perfect study is a perfect human bias". The reality is that we don't know how different treatments will work on everyone, since everyone is different. We can determine trends, but even those have biases towards the upper classes, or white people, or men. 

The end result is that medicine is still a very uncertain practice in the world. And it still needs a human element behind it to use judgement and make choices. This in and of itself is something that I think needs to be talked about more, the fact that doctors are in a field where not much is known and we know the unknowns are coming back to bite us in the end. The laws that he describes here don't only apply to medicine, but also to other studies where they are using tests and trying to parse out the truth (scientific research in general could very easily be grouped in here). And the more we study the more we realize how little we do know about our own bodies.

This short and sweet novel is a really good discussion of that, and one that makes me eager to read Mukherjee's other works as well. Each of the laws is followed by a discussion of science or medicine and how this has applied to the history of medicine, as well as more contemporary anecdotes. It is very readable, but also illuminating. And since it's not too long, it can be finished in a single sitting. I'd highly recommend picking it up if you get the chance!

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

Honestly, I found this classic to be a bit of a disappointment. The various spin-offs and the science fiction culture that has emerged as a result of this story is probably better and more fascinating than the original itself.

Of course there’s the classic misconception: the scientist’s name is Victor Frankenstein, his monster is just a monster. And interestingly, it never says that an electric shock is what causes the monster to come to life. Victor is actually an idiot in my opinion. He creates a monster, then is so horrified by what he created that he flees his apartment and waits for the monster to go away. Nice dude. You really nailed it there. And that’s how literally every single problem begins: because Victor couldn’t take care of a being that he created voluntarily. Or bother making his creature look alright enough to not be horrifying. Or make a creature that isn’t physically superior to him in every way. It’s as though he was trying to create a mess or something.

Then once the monster gets out there and actually hurts someone, his way of dealing with it isn’t to speak up, but to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away. Classic men, am I right? And when the monster tells him that he just wants a companion, Victor refuses and, knowing the consequences of this choice, brings about the deaths of his friends and family. What a weak-ass protagonist, I spent the majority of the book being pissed off at him.

There’s a lot of different aspects of this book to talk about, but I want to focus on what we owe each other. Victor brought the monster into this world, making him a parent in a pretty literal way. He created the monster, he gave him life. And then he dropped him like a hot potato. Does he owe the monster something more?

I think, yeah, he does. If you are raising another creature then you have a responsibility for it. Victor recognizes this towards the end and admits his fault, saying that he should have either raised him right or ended him. While I won’t advocate for destroying naughty children, this seems like pretty clear support for abortion to me. Victor could not teach the monster correctly, and therefore should never have had him in the first place.

Then there’s this question of identity. Victor never gives the monster a name. The monster is then this unknowable mystery beast. Friend? Foe? What? It’s terrifying precisely because anyone who meets him does not know what to categorize him as. And since his companion was never made, the monster is the only one of his kind, a unique specimen. This serves to further alienate him from society that he longs to be a part of.

His appearance figures heavily into that identity as well. Others find the sight of him repulsive, and their reaction to his as a monster is precisely what turns him into one. He starts off loving and compassionate, but when turned away by every human that he meets he becomes a murderer. Because that’s what society expects of him, and he finds it easier to go with the flow of that rather than resist it.

All in all, the monster is a much more compelling character than dumb ol Victor. Taking a look at his character and the results of his abandonment is definitely preferable to watching Victor blame himself and then not do a damn thing about it. Which unfortunately is what most of the book focuses on. Hard to imagine that this book kickstarted so much of the sci-fi that we see today.

“…But I’m NOT Racist!: Tools for Well-Meaning Whites” by Kathy Obear

This was a really interesting read, and it was a free download on kindle a while ago when I got it (I don’t think it’s free anymore though). Essentially this is a book written by a white person for white people who want to be an ally for people of color and help other people around them be less racist.

I’d highly recommend the read for anyone, whether you’re passionate about this subject or not. Racism is not going anywhere anytime soon, and it’s on all of us to try and halt its progress the best we can. This book goes through the mistakes that white people tend to make when discussing race and then offers some alternatives for them.

Pretty much the only critique that I have is that it can seem as though Obear only focuses on the mistakes without providing many alternatives or solutions to these problems. She repeatedly throws at us that we are all unconsciously biased and have a fear of being called racist in front of others, but the ways she gives to minimize this are few and far between. Honestly it seemed like the purpose of her writing this was more to make people aware that this is how they feel and what is going on within their heads rather than to give more solutions.

Having said that, towards the end she does provide some helpful suggestions. She has a whole methodology for taking other white people’s problematic statements and trying to make them realize just how triggering it is. The main idea is to not get angry and yell at them to intimidate or be “the good white” but to calmly explain that they are making a simple mistake, but one that can have a big effect on people. Her philosophy comes from a place of compassion, rather than one of anger.

She also emphasizes having spaces of just white people to talk about racism, which is an idea that I had never encountered before. It sounds ridiculous, how can you talk about racism without people of color, but it also makes sense. It is not the job of people of color to educate us or to point out all of our mistakes, therefore setting up an alternative space to talk about issues and work through them can be ideal. It made me realize that I don’t have a space like that in my life, I should probably work to find one.

This is a quick read, but it is so important that white people continually work on becoming more aware of their own biases and how those manifest in society. Only by working together can we reduce racism in our lives, and that starts with us, right here. Please go read this book, it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to combating racism and it is so crucial if you want to give others the humanity they deserve.

90th Anniversary Book of Cartoons from the New Yorker

The New Yorker celebrated it’s 90^th anniversary in 2015, so this is a little outdated but not much. It’s interesting to see the editors perspective on the past 90 years and them distill out the cartoons that they feel represent said 90 years the best.

And then, of course, there’s the cartoons themselves. The New Yorker is known for their clever cartoons, and these are ones that they picked themselves. That doesn’t mean that they are the funniest or political or whatever, but they are all here for a reason. You also get to see the different styles of art that they use, and watch it change over time. Reflected in here is how America has changed over time, as clothing styles and jobs portrayed change and grow.

I mean don’t bother with this unless you like New Yorker comics, but hey if you’re into it this is pretty good and funny. Even if you just like comics, not necessarily of the New Yorker variety, check it out, it’s got some good ones in here.

“Silence” lectures and writings by John Cage

Picked this one up at a quirky bookstore a while ago. You probably know John Cage as that guy who wrote 4’33” that song that only consists of silence. It’s a little more than that, it forces you to listen to all of the unintentional sounds around you instead of something prepared by the musician. And of course the end result is that all sounds become music of some sort. Go ahead, try it out, take all the time you need. I’ll wait right here.

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Anyways, whether you agree or not, you have to admit that sitting on stage for 4 minutes and 33 seconds without playing a single note is pretty balsy for a musician. So I thought that this book would help to get into his head a little more. Turns out that Cage is a pretty great storyteller. Most of them are very short, but they are quite clever and do usually give some insight, rather like a Zen koan.

The layout of the book is really cleverly done, the writings that are in a more typical format are put at the beginning to present this philosophy and train of thought, and the stranger ones are closer to the end. What I mean by the stranger or less typical ones are ones where elements of chance come into play. Such as this entire lecture where the spacing of words on the page are based on random imperfections                            so the                                                             entire lecture                   is written out                                 kind of like                  this. Makes it kind of                                                                hard to follow. There’s also another lecture where he set up 4 recordings of different lectures to play at once, so all of those lectures are printed out on top of each other. That one was impossible to follow, which was the point of course. Then often there are ones with less crazy formatting, but the content is largely this refrain about how we are discussing nothing at all, and anyone who feels sleepy should go to sleep. It can get annoying if you aren’t in the mood.

Anyways, if that doesn’t throw you off, the lectures do show his thoughts on several subjects. They can also get pretty repetitive, the story of him going into an anechoic chamber (a room with absolutely no sound in it) and discovering that he could in fact hear two noises, is repeated quite frequently. (The two noises were his nervous system and respiratory system, therefore we are never in complete silence and there are constantly unintentional noises going on. See kind of where the idea for 4’33” came from?)

Besides that though there’s also frequent demonstrations of his reliance on chance operations (like the imperfections in the paper) and training in Zen Buddhism. It’s quite an interesting read, as long as you keep your mind open to learning things in unconventional ways. Whether you hate or love his work, you have to admit that he had an incredible effect on music today and how we think about music and sounds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as a postmodern piece

I only started playing the latest Zelda game recently, but it sure does align with quite a few postmodern ideas and techniques. Since I’ve only just started it, this will be a general overview, but I’m sure that the parallels carry deeper than this.

Nintendo takes the formula that they have been recycling over and over again for Zelda games and throws out at least half of it with this one. Weapons no longer last forever, they take on damage and eventually break (usually in the middle of a battle of course) causing Link to need to stock up and get ready to swap others in if necessary. Link himself is also more susceptible to the elements, if it gets too cold or hot he will start to take on damage fairly frequently. This can be combatted with clothes, as usual, or food, which is new. Link can now forage trees for apples or shoot wild game for meat, which can then be cooked or roasted over a fire. Elixirs can also be made, which give special power ups such as speed or stealth.

All of these various aspects present a hero whose main obstacle is the environment itself. Not to mention the fact that the world of this game is so freaking huge you’re going to spend half the time lost anyways. This is a video game where you need to learn the basics of survival if you want to get anywhere, and fast since you also have a kingdom to save. Postmodernism often seeks to find a new way to conceptualize the world, one that is not so human-centric. Humans are the ones destroying the world, so how can we view this world in light of our damage? How can we let nature reclaim what was rightfully theirs to begin with? Breath of the Wild answers this by turning the environment into a foe. Now the player must fight against decay, cold, and hunger as they travel through the world. Nature can still has some fight left in her.

Then there is the fact that Breath of the Wild takes place 100 years after Link failed to save Hyrule. It’s essentially a post-apocalyptic land that we are presented with, one where evil has already won. Postmodernism frequently uses the apocalypse to make a similar point, that man is not eternal and eventually the world will rebel against us. This is a fairly new concept for a Zelda game, most of them start out in a happy setting, but then it all goes wrong somehow. Here everything has already gone wrong, nowhere is safe, Link has already messed up big time. I don’t know what the ending is, but this is one hell of a way to start.

All of these various aspects make Breath of the Wild distinct, both as a new kind of Zelda game and as a postmodern work. I imagine the message it will send the player will be quite different, because the method of playing through it already feels quite different. I’m excited to see how this game progresses.

50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper!

Plot twist: I'm sick so this is going to be short.

LET'S PARTY LIKE IT'S 1967!!!

The Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" came out this week, 50 years ago! I'm celebrating (or trying to).

This album has been dubbed the best of all time by Rolling Stones, and has won numerous other awards. Whether you're a longtime Beatles fan or not, give it a listen, it deserves that much. :)

HEY NOW

I graduated undergrad on Sunday so I'm not posting any more than this. Happy Memorial Day!

American Gods as a TV show

So I while ago I read American Gods and wrote a post about it, mostly praising it for the ingenious way it takes ancient gods and brings them into the modern era. In case you’ve been missing all the buzz, it’s now a tv show as well! Neil Gaiman, the author of the book, is the executive producer, so I had high hopes about this series.

There’s currently only 3 episodes out of this series (it’s 8 episodes total for this season so not even halfway), but so far I am a fan! They are sticking pretty strongly to the book which is lovely and really all that I wanted out of it. The cast is also very diverse with Shadow being cast as a black man. Which is great, it’s 2017 already, I am a fan of this choice. It also brings in more contemporary issues since Shadow just got out of prison and is now essentially Mr. Wednesday’s (a white man’s) assistant. Since I’ve read the book though, I know where his character goes, and I still think this is a great choice.

The first season apparently only includes about a third of the book, so hopefully there will be more to come. The show will also expand on the book itself, bringing in elements from Anansi Boys, which I haven’t personally read, but is a companion novel to American Gods.

To talk more definitively about the show itself, I really dig the music and the way that it is incorporated into what’s happening on screen. There’s almost always an undercurrent of sound, whether it’s an instrumental adding to tension, or an old love song during a montage. Some of the choices are ironic, such as the love song being played during Laura’s funeral, that add to the confusion and despair Shadow feels. It also adds another layer of contrast between the old and the new gods.

Right off the bat the old and new gods look different. The old gods are gritty and look weathered, while the new ones are sleek and shiny. The music is also different, the old gods are paired with rustic, older songs while the new gods are accompanied by sounds that are clearly synthesized and distorted. It’s great, tv show music always seems so under utilized.

Only the beginning of this show is currently out, but the set-up so far is marvelous. I look forward to the rest of it!

Blast from the Past

Today I was given a video of myself from four years ago, which I made as a sort of time capsule my freshman year. Watching it was strange, I knew that it was myself, but it also felt like this was my child in a strange way. I just wanted to tell past me that everything would be ok and give her a hug.

Funnily enough though, I think that she comforted me more and I could comfort her. Somehow in my wisdom I opened the message with “you did good, you have done a great job” and ended it with “if you’re happy, I’m happy” which nearly brought me to tears. I had no possible idea of what I was going to do then, but I was determined that it would be good.

And turns out that my plans didn’t change that much, I knew what I was going to major and minor in and my friends are mostly the same. You can tell though that I am also completely different now, just visually even. My glasses are different, my hair went from a ponytail to almost a pixie, and I had a necklace on in that video that my roommate gave me. So just the experience of seeing past me was a bit of a jolt, I forgot that was what I looked like.

Probably the most interesting part of the video though was when I was just talking about my day. Just getting a glimpse into my life was fascinating. That day I had class, then went to register my friend’s car, then had a meeting about an act I was working on (my first act, wow time flies), and after this I was going to talk to a professor about working in her lab. This professor is now my advisor, and I am still working in her lab! The progression of everything from then until now is incredible, because here I am as the finished project, while back then it was just the seeds.

There isn’t a big message or anything that I wanted to communicate with this post, other than the fact that it is fascinating to see yourself from years ago. And I wish I had the foresight to do that more often, because past me left a video about 10 minutes long but I could watch her for hours. It was a really pleasant surprise this morning. 😊

The problem with gay white men

I don't know what the hell it is about them, or why they do so many things that tick me off, but they need to develop some self-awareness fast.

Being gay does not make you immune to misogyny, racism, or classism. In fact, I would argue that it makes you even more likely to participate in misogyny since most gay men that I have met find me even more worthless (since I identify as female) since I am not a sexual object to them. As if people didn't have a purpose beyond being sexual objects. Degrading your friendship with someone because you aren't dating isn't making the other person feel any better. Overtly stating that you prefer one of your male friends isn't endearing.

Saying offensive stuff and then using the excuse "it's fine, I'm gay" doesn't help either. Straight men aren't the only ones who are offensive to women, other races, or anyone else. That also misses the point completely. Sexism and racism are unconscious biases that we ALL have, myself included. Whether you happen to be part of a minority population or not doesn't fix that. It can only be combated by educating yourself and realizing these biases that you possess and how you may be acting on them.

And this self-awareness is really incredible since they never seem to shut up about themselves. Everything is a direct attack on them as a homosexual, nothing faces the LGBTQIA community at large, it's all specifically directed at them. I mean, sure, they're included in that, but realize that there are people worse off out there. Not everyone is a northeastern hipster with a buttload of privilege that they couldn't even begin to unpack. Most of the time you cannot bring up the subject of other people's plight without some genius launching off into how he has been personally victimized and his own struggles and how horrible it is for him when what we're trying to discuss someone else entirely. Part of being an ally and helping others is knowing when to shut up and listen instead. Talking about yourself incessantly means that you are, knowingly or not, taking up time that someone else could use more effectively, and voice opinions that aren't usually heard.

Sure I understand why this is, as part of the LGBTQIA community I get it. I know that you were growing up with a lot of insecurities about who you are, and that part of being in the closet means hiding and not talking to others, and how great it can feel when you're finally out and can talk about this. But I also know my place in the conversation, and I know that my problems aren't the most severe out there. And I think that this is something that the gay community as a whole needs to grasp.

Only Four Years of Undergrad

Something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is the fact that 4-year colleges have a pretty high turnover rate. Students only spend four years here, which is not very long at all. It’s less than half a decade, and during a period of time where a lot of learning and growing is being done.

This means that with student leadership, it can feel very much so as though the blind are leading the blind. Because those in positions of more responsibility have been doing this for three years at the most, which is an incredibly short period of time. And it is hard to make super huge changes, when every year the new freshmen need to be taught and brought up to speed.

It can also be hard to conceptualizing issues and put them into a larger context, when all you have is a window of four years, you don’t know all of the history behind problems. Issues can arise and fester without people even being aware of them. Which is why it’s really beneficial to have people with institutional knowledge, because most individuals have no sense of the larger continuity within the community.

However this also means that there is constantly an influx of new ideas. Which is not a power to be underestimated, when people are around for a long period of time, they can get stuck in the way that things have always been done. With old eyes leaving and new ones constantly coming in, there’s never a shortage of new perspectives and ideas. Which is why there is always so much change happening on college campuses.

Undergraduate colleges are a really unique environment. The high turnover rate means that there is constantly changes underway, but can also mean that there is a lack of remembrance. It is important to keep the two in balance, and hopefully those who reach their last few years at a college realize the limitations of their knowledge of the school. Because this can mean that they are ill-equipped to handle problems that arise, and fully address their causes.

Not Caring Actually Improves My Performance

Ok so there’s this theory in psychology called the Yerkes-Dodson law that essentially plots the relationship between arousal and performance. The idea is that if you don’t care enough, you do poorly, but if you care too much you also perform poorly. The trick is to hit the sweet spot in the middle.

Honestly though, I think that I perform better when I’m under less pressure and don’t care as much about what happens. It could just be me, but frankly pressure tends to get to me very easily.

One example is that I used to care a lot about my performance in dance class. If I got corrections I was embarrassed and I really really wanted to do well. This stopped about halfway through last year, I quit caring as much about dance simply because I didn’t have the capacity to do that anymore. It became a form of exercise that had no bearing on the rest of my life, I showed up, I danced, I left. And I think I improved as a result. Or at least, my mental health improved. I stopped evaluating myself based on how I did in class. I much prefer it this way.

I think that if you don’t have that much investment in an activity, you’re going to do better because now you’re doing it for yourself. Whether you succeed or fail, the only one who is going to know or care is you. And in the end, that’s what it comes down to. You’re only accountable to yourself, go out there and make you proud.

Collaboration Challenges, Namely Your Huge Ego

Truly, the direction that I think art is going in is one of more collaboration. Let’s be honest, egos are horrible, as are group projects. There are hurdles to overcome with this, but I think that it’s possible, and would be very groundbreaking.

First of all, it’s obvious: we have all got an enormous ego. Most of us probably pretend that we don’t, but do anyways on the inside. But literally what is the point of this? Much better things are made when everyone is thinking less of themselves and more of the final product. In that case, it is beyond time to quit thinking of ourselves exclusively, and think more about the world we live in. The goal is not to reach a point where you never say “I” or “me,” the goal is to realize that it doesn’t matter whether you use first person singular or plural pronouns (“we”).

Here’s the problem though, nearly everything we do is built on our ego. Every project, every purchase, nearly every action. We live in a world built on ourselves and the individual. I’m not saying completely eliminate that, but it makes it much harder to work together when everyone is so used to everything revolving around themselves. Are we capable of dismantling this? At all?

Personally I think so. Postmodern art revolves around the fact that there are no unique ideas or experiences, so give it up. Everything has been thought of before, so stop trying to come up with something entirely new. Instead, come up with a way to portray something differently. This gets rid of the ego aspect, since there is no original content involved, it is only a reinterpretation.

I think we can take this a step further, and eliminate the ego entirely. Let’s start working as a collective on projects, no one person gets any credit for anything. Sure you have to find the right people who are entirely on board with this, but you could make some absolutely amazing works with this mentality. Let’s give it a shot.

The Appeal of Kid’s Cartoons

I feel like we live in a golden age of cartoons or something. There are cartoons aimed at children (Steven Universe for example), and there are cartoons aimed at adults (Rick and Morty). Regardless of who it’s aimed at though, it seems to me as though more and more “adults” are watching “kids” cartoons. This is included, but not limited to, shows like Steven Universe, Race to the Edge (DreamWorks Dragons aka How to Train Your Dragon the tv show), or Gravity Falls.

I’m not totally sure if this is an actual phenomenon, or whether I’m just more conscious of it. Certainly I’m part of a demographic that grew up with cartoons, and therefore there are animated series aimed at us, such as Race to the Edge, that are essentially a continuation of cartoons from our younger days. I think that this observation goes beyond that though.

Part of it is that cartoons as a medium are being taken more seriously. About a decade ago, cartoons were seen as something for children, but the rise of shows like The Simpsons or South Park have made them relevant to adults as well (these shows are clearly not for kids).

What I think is happening now is that children’s cartoons are being taken more seriously, the writing is getting better and more developed than before. Characters on Steven Universe deal with issues like gender identity and abusive relationships, that would never have happened even a few years ago. Gravity Falls is a surprisingly complex show, with Easter eggs hidden all over for viewers to spot. And that’s appealing to older viewers as well.

It's kind of wonderful to watch, here’s a genre that nearly everyone has seen (think Disney) but clearly has not reached its full potential yet. And here we are watching it grow! I’m excited to see what happens.