false 6 40 38 true 5828931 read 1 true 1179283 currently-reading 1 true 1179282 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36806953 Capital 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Paperback) by Karl Marx
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15529862 to: Pitcairn's Island: A Novel (Paperback) by Charles Nordhoff
Looking for Utopia, or the possibility of some kind of other world, I read this book with interest.
A bunch of Bounty mutineers leave the world as they know it, as fugitives, accompanied by some economic/social exiles from Tahiti, 1790. Things were going really well on the deserted island of Pitcairn deep in the unchartered Pacific when the castaways - about 15 of them, half Europeans, half Polynesians - shared the land of the Island, and lived and worked as kind of unintentional communards.
Then when some of the Europeans started to divide up the land - to enclose it - all hell broke loose. Horror ensued, o the horror.
Instead of pointing to this moment of rupture in the collective tenure of the resources i.e. land seizure along racial lines, the authors instead chose to tell a moral fable of good and evil with religious overtones thus allowing for a dreadfully boring finale.

A novel of such promise, ruined. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8910959 to: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Paperback) by Nathaniel Philbrick
I have a perennial seafaring thing going on in my life, despite being completely landlocked in the crucible of San Cristobal at a vertiginous 2200m - for, I don't know, oh, interminable years. Once I worked on a banana ship traversing the Atlantic ocean and despite the factory-like conditions, I loved it. So I devour any books dealing with the sea, hoping that the beautiful aroma of the surf two weeks from land can be conjured up in word or prose.
But most sea books are shite and fail to conjure up anything except the regurgitating feeling of seasickness - like the clownish Redmond O Hanlon on his north sea Trawler.
In the Heart of the Sea is another book that is ostensibly about the ocean but ... isn't. Oh its a seafarers story all right, of whaling vessels and men who know the sea. But its more a tale about the limits of human endevour and, ultimately, the morality of cannibalism. Interesting topics of course, but not...the sea.
I was looking for a book to conjure up the essence of the ecstatic maritime and instead I got a book that brought me back time and time again to torture. Specifically Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition destinations, H-block, the Irish and Turkish prisoner hunger strikes, the repression in Argentina and Chile during the dictatorships, all that horror. The ghastly experience of the whaling men adrift in the Pacific ocean for 3 months in a little boat, starving and coping with untold suffering - well this is surely the territory of modern torture, of isolation units, psychological warfare and waterboarding.
The day-by-day documenting of the ordeal of the men adrift under the punishing sun (or punishing gales and storms) with diminishing supplies of food, and scant water brings me back unrelentingly to the testimonies of the torture victims emerging from Turkish or Mexican jails, of their terrifying ordeals.
In the Heart of the Sea dwells upon the crucial moment when the sailors start eating other - cannibalism - and it's a jolting subject to be sure. But for me, eating the flesh of a perished human when you are starving to death is, well, understandable. Torturing a living human, on the other hand, to extract information or even for the thrill of it - now thats really morally repugnant.
Cannibalism or torture? Well, to re-paraphrase Cheney, its a no-brainer, isn't it?
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15328250 to: Heat (Paperback) by George Monbiot
How many light bulbs do we need to change in order to save the planet? None, points out Monbiot, so its too late, we're doomed! Unless we reduce carbon emissions by 90% by 2030 which is of course completely unthinkable. The US war machine will probably still be on overdrive all over Mesopotamia in 2030. George positions himself as a somewhat fanciful alchemist coming up with lots of totally implausible measures - like no more flying - to put a break on global warming. There are a few good diehards who are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices but the great majority, of course not. As George points out the campaign to save civilization is a campaign not against other people but against ourselves. And "we", are our own worst enemy. Meanwhile, the corporations and the wealthy are arming themselves for the future, buying water rights, privatizing all the natural resources, putting enclosures around everything, building fortresses, and are probably prepared to let a few billion undesirables perish to save themselves.
The tragedy of Monbiots book is that he still talks in terms of "us", the people of the world, the United Nations, how "we" can save the world, when the captains of industry and those in first class have already drawn up their contingency plans. For the rest, it will be a fight for survival and the possibility of all out class war.

PS: Me and my boy will be holed up in the Zapatista autonomous zone where at least the Zapatistas have control over food production, water supplies and a potential army of self defense. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15335939 to: Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock (Paperback) by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Years and years ago I found myself staying in Isa'a apartment in Park Slope in Brooklyn. ( she is kind with home-less people, somewhat famously). It was a magical experience. I don't think i ever had the joy of getting anything cooked by Isa - but she and her artist room-mate did act like wanton diva's with their delirious social interaction and endless commentary on the irredeemable immediate. I adored Isa's punkiness, her New Yorkedness, and her endearing, cutting wit - but I never got the vegan business. So with this book, I really fucking tried.
I am still not vegan but I love Isa's writing. And with this book, one can eat well, so well.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14639728 to: The Myth of Sisyphus (Paperback) by Albert Camus
"One must imagine Sisyphus happy," says Camus, as he pushes the rock up the mountain eternally. Ive always taken this text as a metaphore for anarchism and radical struggle in general. Theres no end and the contentment is in the process. Pretty fucking grim really. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14639305 to: My Invented Country: A Memoir (Paperback) by Isabel Allende
Traveling demands a disproportional effort, she wrote, especially when it's to places where there is no room service. That's on page x, even before the book has begun - and my usual feeling of empathy towards Allende cools somewhat. But as ever with the Chilean enchantress, she returns to cast her magic spell with her charming words and seductive tales. This book reads more like a letter to an old friend - which is what I suppose we readers of Allende are by now. There's no new insights or great philosophical discoveries, she just covers familiar territory from a slightly different gaze - that of an older woman, a grandmother, who is happy with herself and her place in life. Since that place is California, its clear the preoccupation with room service. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14639802 to: Star of the Sea (Paperback) by Joseph O'Connor
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14639532 to: The Laughter of Mothers (Hardcover) by Paul Durcan
Poetry is good if it makes you cry, right? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14639433 to: No Destination: An Autobiography (Paperback) by Satish Kumar
After a very promising start, as a wandering monk, then in an ashram, and then working with the landless movement,and finally, walking from India to the US on a peace march, the book ends, and begins again. The second half is a homely account of the second half of his life, in England and about various journeys and pilgrimages here and there. Rather dull. Wish he had wrote more about walking across eastern europe and asia minor - that was very interesting stuff. ]]>