http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/853617 en-US Sun, 11 May 2008 11:23:25 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 24638988 Sun, 11 May 2008 11:23:25 -0700 Review22024393 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/22024393 The Archimedes Codex: Revealing The Secrets Of The World's Greatest Palimpsest: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest (Hardcover) by Reviel Netz
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 16599788 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:11:18 -0700 Review15690256 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15690256 to: Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none (Paperback) by Friedrich Nietzsche
While this book will sadly always be bogged down in Nietzsche's unresolved and immature childhood angst, his poetic brilliance is...well, brilliant.

The real stride of Zarathustra lies more at the beginning, with the prophet's existence rather petering out toward the end, rather than the usual ascent into spiritual ecstasy with which similar stories finish. Still, I suppose if I read the text as an insight into the mind of Nietzsche himself - rather than an educational, theological journey - then the parallels of the author's and his subject's psyches is very satisfying.

I should mention that I am not at all offended by the decidedly anti-feminine sentiment that is ubiquitous in the book. This is precisely because - as a woman, and therefore with a biological predisposition toward empathy and care of another human being - I can see the source of his anger. Most of the men around him died when he was very young, leaving the females to be the rule-setters and law-enforcers of an ultra emo kid. Of course the kid aggrandized the "heavenly destiny" of the male, and the earthly, practicality of the female. Again, it is a very sad fate for this book that it's author should be so bound by his own circumstance. Oh well...

To summarize my feelings in total: where I was absorbed, I was completely and utterly absorbed. Where my maturity superseded both Nietzsche and Zarathustra, I merely rolled my eyes a bit and moved on.

This is a piece that I would consider an absolutely phenomenal achievement for a scholar at the peak of his career, but that could certainly do with revision and clarification later on in life.

Unfortunately, Zarathustra's end was the same as Nietzsche: exhaustion brought on by decades of wild mood swings resulting in a vague form of oblivion. The wildness was exhilarating, and fortunately compensated for the occasional trough. ]]> 17809849 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:14:05 -0800 Review14027175 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14027175 to: The Gift (Paperback) by Vladimir Nabokov
Considering the fact that Russian literature scares the crap out of me, I very tentatively followed my sister's recommendation of Nabokov after she read 'Lolita'. I am also fascinated by synesthesia, so 'The Gift' was a logical choice. So far, so beautiful. And only one miserable git longing after a bandy-legged female. Fyodor is cool and his longing is not of the Dostoevskian sort, which generally consists of a socially outcast dude with tall black hair, a dog at his feet (slowly succumbing to consumption), and etching a woman's name into an old writing table with one scratchy, yellow fingernail. Well, that's how it seems anyway. No disrespect to Dosty, though.

Edit: Having finished the book, I retract my comments about 'miserable git' and 'bandy-legged' regarding Fyodor and Zina. I can believe their happiness together.

Fyodor's dream of his father's return tore me up like the dog children of Sin. "With a moan and a sob Fyodor stepped toward him, and in the collective sensation of woollen jacket, big hands, and the tender prickle of trimmed moustaches there swelled an ecstatically happy, living, enormous, paradisal warmth in which his icy heart melted and dissolved."

It is particularly poignant because Fyodor's heart must remain frozen, even around Zina - among whom, yes, it does warm ever so slightly. But Nabokov makes it clear that nothing can replace the withheld affection of a father for a son. ]]> 17743325 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:39:28 -0800 Review14055111 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14055111 to: The Time Traveler's Wife (Paperback) by Audrey Niffenegger
While the concept truly defies literary preconceptions of female authors - combining an intriguing notion of evolutionary biology and fantastical physics - the lead male character (the time traveller) is merely a woman with slightly cruder sexual proclivities.

And for the sake of all cherubim and seraphim in Heaven, will novelists please just kill off the stereotypical red-headed, feisty heroine? There are many combinations of hair colour and levels of heroism that can just as easily work for the lead female. The minute I see this character description, the whole narrative turns into a contrived farce.

Author: I know - I'll make her red-headed because everyone does blondes or brunettes! And I'll make her feisty because everyone expects women to be meek and shy!

WOMEN: Do not pander to the stereotypes by creating reactionary new stereotypes. Please.

Sorry, couldn't get past all of this to feel anything else. ]]> 16601157 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:45:59 -0800 Review15691337 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15691337 Rimbaud: Complete Works, Selected Letters (Paperback) by Wallace Fowlie
]]> 16600710 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:40:39 -0800 Review15690985 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15690985 Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem (Paperback) by Simon Singh
]]> 16599976 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:40:27 -0800 Review15690395 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15690395 to: The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs (Paperback) by Timothy Freke
I give four stars to the Corpus mainly because the exact origins are a bit of a mystery in themselves. While the verse is very beautiful and compelling, I would like a little more support in the form of an introduction or foreward to support the claim that this work does indeed have as much relevance as the Upanishads or the Tao Te Ching.

However, I do agree with a lot of Timothy Freke's interpretations of spirituality and mysticism - particularly his aversion to literalism and religious dogma. So this was still a very worthwhile and insightful read, despite feeling a little at sea regarding it's historical placement. ]]> 16599549 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:28:19 -0800 Review15690059 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15690059 Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (Paperback) by Antonio Damasio
bookshelves: currently-reading, reference
Completely befuddling at first for me as a lay person, but a cognition/behaviour prof gave me a good summary which should help when I return to it. ]]> 16599266 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:25:50 -0800 Review15689860 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15689860 to: The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet (Paperback) by Matthieu Ricard
bookshelves: reference
This to me is the more modern equivalent of the Bohm and Krishnamurti discussions. Very enlightening - particularly for those of us who are not exactly experts in either Buddhism or quantum theory. ]]>