Purpose-driven life: evolution does not rob life of meaning, but creates meaning. It also makes possible our own capacity for creativity.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/spring-2009/

Evolutionary thinking has lately expanded from the biological to the human world, first into the social sciences and recently into the humanities and the arts. Many people therefore now understand the human, and even human culture, as inextricably biological. But many others in the humanities--in this, at least, like religious believers who reject evolution outright--feel that a Darwinian view of life and a biological view of humanity can only deny human purpose and meaning.
Does evolution by natural selection rob life of purpose, as so many have feared? The answer is no. On the contrary, Charles Darwin has made it possible to understand how purpose, like life, builds from small beginnings, from the ground up. In a very real sense, evolution creates purpose. ....

A Readers Summary

Since August, 30th, 2009, I have been rather busy. I have taken on new challenges, some I've been hoping for a shot at for a long time. Busy, of course is a relative term. We are all busy. But we each have loads we hoist on our shoulders that challenge us more so than the day before. We are all Atlas's. Sometimes its worth noting that as we heave the world on our shoulder....nearby, there are 6 billion other worlds being held on respective shoulders.
That said...I haven't forsaken my mental food. The following are just brief snippets of tomes consumed for the betterment of my own health.
Christopher Hitchens Letters to a Young Contrarian [No. 869], is as the title claims a series of letters. Written to a hypothetical young mind who is in want of path of reasoning. And in our world of spin and victorious history writing . "One must have the nerve to assert that, while people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled" Hitchens professes "to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others." And if one has ever read a Hitchens volume being the antagonist is something he seeks, for as he aptly puts near the end of this little volume: "Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.
Dan Brown's much anticipated sequel to The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol [No. 870], is a let down. Possibly because of exactly that, that it was much anticipated. A sad reality of success. Let's hope that his next one will be more original. Not much can also be said of Claude Izner's Murder on the Eiffel Tower [No. 871]. Suckered in by a bookseller involved in a murder mystery, I was sorrily disappointed in this little tale set in the late 19th century of Paris, France where murder is afoot in a poisonous sort of way. Not even the scenery of the early days of the Eiffel Tower were all that alluring.
The works of fiction that are extremely entertaining are Alexander McCall Smith's trilogy, Portuguese Irregular Verbs [No. 862], The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs [No. 863], and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances [No. 866]. The trilogy marks moments in the life of Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Iglefeld, the purveyor of all that is known in Portuguese Irregular Verbs, a weighty tome that was the result of the realization that as "[t]he crudities of the modern world were simplifying or even destroying linguistic subtleties." The professor would save the day. McCall's tales, however, are not serious treatises. The three look at the humour of academia. The irrationality of a specialist hanging his hat on one so minuscule point of knowledge, and that as such, honor and awards must befall such a brave intellectual. Academic narcissism is all too prevalent and McCall takes perfect aim with style and grace. I would be the first to find humour in certainty or alleged certainty; and would be the first to take a shot at my own (I just have to remind my self to un-clench the fist when I take the shot). These books are highly recommended; the convergence of events in "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" nearly resulted in peeing the bed as I rolled over laughing.
The polar opposite of the above is Chris Hedges latest volume, Empire of Illusion, the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle [No. 0867]. This is a brutal book. A step back to see the flamboyantly frivolous western culture has become...and continues to be directed. And it is so hard to step back when we are travelling at the speed of light, in a ship constructed by "oligarchs, corporations, and a narrow, selfish, political, and economic elite...". The intellectual sphere, born out of the Enlightenment, creator of much of the essence of the moral and ethical structure we hope is there, is continuing to be shattered and torn apart. It is easier to flick the next channel with the remote; it is easier to forgo reason and intellectual rigour for a glittered cardboard world that we are sold. We want others to be devastated by personal mishap. We want the trust broken by the next scandal. And we want it NOW. On our TV and computer screens. We see no reason to remember the past. "Those who suffer from historical amnesia, the belief that we are unique in history and have nothing to learn from the past, remain children. They live in an illusion." And they are everywhere. If one were to pause for a second and take a step off the train for a moment, would we want our children to live in an world where functional illiteracy becomes closer to the norm than not; or the commercialization of all that is life, and even death has a place on 'social networks'? Or that the word intellectual becomes a pejorative? Can we enjoy and absorb this train ride if we were in control? Or are we just passengers, blindly absorbed in our own belly buttons, occasionally hoping that someone is actually at the helm? Empire of Illusion is a burning book, one that not too long ago in our history would have been just that; burned.
Jesus, Interrupted [No. 0865] by scholar Bart Ehrman is a book about contradictions and reading. The subtitle is "Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them)" and harbors the belief that most people read the Bible in a devotional manner, for that is how it is presented by church leaders. This is a linear reading, one page at a time, or at its worst cherry-picked for the flavor of the day. The historical-critical reading of the Bible, taught in secular seminaries and classes, is one of comparative analysis and literature, and in their original historical context. And there is much to say about the contradictions in the Bible (the separate creation stories for one). Ehrman is careful, however. "I should stress that scholars and students who question such passages are not questioning God himself. They are questioning what the Bible has to say about God." For Ehrman, like many other scholars, the Bible is a human construct, written by many, many authors over centuries of power, wars, and struggles. Ehrman's agnosticism, a growth from a very powerful believer in his youth, is tactful, and passionate. He does not want to offend those who hold the inerrancy of the Bible, but the only critical way to go beyond oneself is to be critical and thoughtful of your own footing. "For me" Ehrman says "it's just one of the mysteries of the universe: how so many people can revere the Bible and think that in it is God's inspired revelation to his people, and yet know so little about it."

"Holy Moly" by B. Rehder

A simple novel of a planned megachurch....an unpaid Las Vegas mafia team.....a paleontologist with another kind of secret.....and a collector of dinosaur bones with a sexual proclivity that is.....well, tied up in costumes.....the same old stuff.

I got the book as a inexpensive remainder copy....made more valuable because it was signed. As cheap novels....it was ok as a bedtime read, but nothing more.
# 0853

"The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period" by W. St. Clair

It is not a simple read, if one were to define a text by its mere volume. And at 765 pages, its a monster of a book. But even if you were to remove the hefty appendices, the breadth of research still comes to the fore with a fluid hand. "The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period" identifies a time of transition, between the mid-18th century, and that of the early to mid-19th century and how this would define not only a nation but the printing strategies and cultural, societal milieu to come. Not a simple book indeed.

The book industry was, for so long, a patronage/cartel run business for much of its early stages. "The romantic period was to see the last sustained attempt by the British state to control the minds of the British people by controlling the print to which they had access." In the manuscript age, where texts were manually produced, church and government had control, in terms of content, and to some extent distribution, and price. The print age created a strong tie with state and business. "Only those members of the [book] industry who were sworn members of the official English church, and whose loyalty to the state was unquestioned, were permitted to" engage in the industry. The steps to modern publishing, and intellectual property rights began, in essence, with the abolition of state censorship in 1695. From there it was still a troublesome path.

Once the church and state broke ties with the book industry it "was now effected by the weight, [and] price". Further "the industry, by building up vested interests in the supply of certain favoured titles, and by its constant awareness of the need to maintain the share price of these properties by rationing the supply, encouraged a tendency towards cultural as well as towards technological obsolescence." The industry, by its control and greed, froze a nation. This lasted for nearly a century, at least up to 1774 when further legislation was enacted; meanwhile other nations developed new printing technologies, and authors were less taxed or at least could be published in another country. This is perhaps the most troublesome discovery of St. Clair's book. In effect, "the losses", by limiting the variety of texts, and propping up the prices so only the higher echelons of society had access, manifested "less literature of all kinds being written and published, less reprinting, less reading, a slow-down in the pace of the diffusion of new ideas, less access to the discoveries of science and medicine by those at the lower tranches [levels] of the book market, less education, more obsolete education, more illiteracy, more ignorance, more unwanted children."

The relationship between author and publisher would evolve. But by looking back at the actually production numbers of books, one can gain a clear impression of the state of the author in his or her time, rather than rely on 21st century historians interpreting "the classics" [by the way, this term originated as a framework of considerate, tender titles and texts suitable for cultured women to read, not the anthological listing of our impressing of literary giants]. For St. Clair access the actual production numbers of works of Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, Austen and such reveal that Sir Walter Scott "whose verse works were sold in the largest numbers." Shelley, Keats and company, works we now think of a canonical, actually had less of a societal impact when published.

Meanwhile, the United States were only mildly scorched by the brutal heat of the British system of industrial monopoly. Their production was wider [more titles] and less skewed toward aristocracy. A reading populace is an educated populace. "The post-independence intellectual property regime helped the United States to become one of the most modern countries in the world."

In all "The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period" is full of discovery and thought. How the book industry affects a nation is often only brushed over. St. Clair anchors this idea with multitude of facts, not anecdotal quips. If you want to bite into something a little more textually and intellectually engaging, and had a sense of history with a purpose, this not-so little volume would be fulfilling.
#852

"Melancholies of Knowledge. Literature in the Age of Science", M. A. Safir (ed.)

Frankly I have a limited knowledge base of "literature" and what is popularly considered the same. Sometimes I wonder if literary criticism, at times, is more about creating much ado about nothing, than simply enjoying a good book. That said, I do have some interest in how science is portrayed in the public sphere, as in literature. But who knows anything about Michel Rio and his assemblage of literary takes on science and how it plays in the broader human arena of experience? His books are not commonly in print in English, which makes it even more difficult. Yet, editor Margery Safir obviously does, assembling noted writers of culture, including a scientist or two, to pick apart a Rio's books to see how it all plays out - science and literature.

Frankly (again) I only read the introduction and one chapter. I agree with her that "Rhetoric, textual analysis, questions of style, and modes of expression are recognized in History and Philosophy of Science as crucial to the life of scientific concepts." Science is beyond white lab coats and test tubes. It is a human construct to understand the world around us. However, I disagree with Safir that science has special status in culture. That literature has to make up ground. "Are authors of fiction" she asks "seeking to share in the power and authority that contemporary society accords science?" Because of our collective ignoring of science, as a society, this is simply not true (a rant best saved for a specific essay).

Still, I wanted to hear what Stephen Jay Gould had to say. A follower of his, one who appreciates learning through his digressions on science and culture, I found his essay on Rio's Dreaming Jungles. Gould states the obvious of literature and science: "This form of "iffy" history [the incorporation of the two - I won't say cultures] can be so fascinating as a source of conjecture about alternative plausible pathways for our cultural lives." Where I found pause to concern is his final statement. "We need the integration of our disciplines, the end to false and extreme dichotomizations, the recognition that we cannot grasp human uniqueness unless we both practice art and understand science." That we as a society must all participate in art, but only understand and not participate in science. Here again a scientist has lofted science to a higher status. For this is a failure of society: to appreciate the technological and basic science that surrounds us, and a failure too of scientist in successfully translating and incorporating the ACT of doing science.
#0856

"Lempriere's Dictionary" by L. Norfolk

There are reasons books are remaindered, returned to their publishers for disposal. Some of these still are good works, with no fault to the authors. Others are obvious. And, after 152 pages, about a third of the book, I had no choice but to 'remainder' the book myself, thanks to the author. From the beginning, a thread was hard to pick up. There seemed no reasoning for the story....no pick up between the tales that were spun. You knew that somewhere there was a 'dictionary', something I had hoped that would start to tie the threads together (even loosely) .....but no. After 152 pages of abbreviated scenes...there was no choice but to find a dusty place on the shelf, and squeeze in another title. For this is my remaindering pile.
#0850

"Cemetery Dance" by D. Preston & L. Child

Not their best work. The two began this series with Relic, about things that go bump in the museum night, with a small character, FBI agent Pendergast. Reminiscent of an X-File case, the character has blossomed through nine books. Each one peeling away another layer of this mysterious, rogue-ish character, except for this latest. Cemetery Dance is a straight-on storey with cultish dimension, a story that could have been written on card board. Hopefully the authors will return in years time (usually in August) with a new tale with a strong subplot. One that suggest revealing another Pendergast layer.
#0851