Vox Clamantis

From Bauhaus to Our House

2006 Book Challenge, #8: From Bauhaus to Our House, by Tom Wolfe.

Le Corbusier was the sort of relentlessly rational intellectual that only France loves wholeheartedly, the logician who flies higher and higher in ever-decreasing concentric circles until, with one last, utterly inevitable induction, he disappears up his own fundamental aperture and emerges in the fourth dimension as a needle-thin umber bird.

...

Corbu [Le Corbusier] had triumphed through intellect and genius alone, through manifestos, treatises, speeches, debates, drawings, visionary plans, and the sheer moral force of his mission. He had become one of the greatest architects of the world, respected and admired by every avant-garde architect; had created that Radiant City which was himself, Corbu - without benefit of commissions, clients, budgets, buildings.

This is the story of modernism/postmodernism. Of worker housing, of the huddled masses and of architecural theory and history. It is not a nice tale. It is, instead, the kind of book that makes you want to wash your hands afterward. Which is ironic, given how clean, gleaming, sparse and white the buildings are. An enjoyable read, if depressing.

The Fountainhead

2006 Book Challenge, #7: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.

Okay, let's start with the bad. Rand was Russian and wrote in the great prose style of the other Russian greats. The book is long. The prose isn't always the best, though it's suitable and suffices. Fine. Complaints aside, a friend told me that people either love or hate this book. I'm in the former camp and I'm not sure I could be friends with anyone in the latter. The book is about freedom, fascism and human potential. It glorifies the strength and nobility of the individual. It is a noble book and deserves it's place on the short list of the best books of the century.

The Religion War

2006 Book Challenge, #6: The Religion War, by Scott Adams.

I was conflicted about reading this book because I thought this little book reading challenge of mine should broaden my perspective and that I would benefit from reading 50 books from 50 different authors. But for some reason, I was really drawn to God's Debris, the first book in this series, so I decided to read the sequel. Turns out, the introduction to The Religion War gives away Adams' secret to his success: God's Debris "used a variety of hypnosis techniques in an attempt to produce a feeling of euphoric enlightenment..." I don't mind that he used these techniques - it is difficult to get into the writing business, after all - I just wish I could silence the little voice inside my head telling me I need to keep buying Dilbert books.

As for the book review, I feel (strangely) compelled to say this was a great book. I did enjoy reading these two books, though they probably won't make my top five at the end of the year. One benefit of them is that they're really short and quick reads, but they stay with you a long time [insert joke about Taco Bell bean burritos.]

As for the plot, let's just keep it simple and put it like this: "Safari has unexpectedly crashed: you will need to reboot your system."

The Salmon of Doubt

2006 Book Challenge, #5: The Salmon of Doubt, by Douglas Adams.

This is a collection of essays, interviews, assorted notes, and a draft of a new book that Adams was working on before he passed away unexpectedly at the tender age of 49. For a glimpse of his humor, see my earlier post. Everything in the book was culled by his editor from his collection of beloved mac's and put into a final volume, complete with introductions to the introductions to the intro to the preface.

The writing is of mixed quality, but is uniformly better than the dribble most writers produce. In one essay he writes about the joys of Bach and in another he focuses on the brilliance of the Beatles. His essays wonder on to discussions of god, time travel, forecasting and computers. He even informs his American audience, and increasingly his British audience, of the proper way to make tea. In an essay on P.G. Wodehouse, Adams discusses Sunset at Blandings, a book Wodehouse was writing before he passed away. Adams marveled at the book because it is a look deep inside Wodehouse's mind. The book was not ready for publication, and as such, it provided a sketch of his working mind - how he got an idea and shaped it and reworked it until it was a polished gem. The article is important because the final section of the book contains a draft of a new Dirk Gently book, or perhaps another book in the Hitchhikers series (Adams wasn't sure what he was going to do). Like Wodehouse, the chapters in The Salmon of Doubt (his tentative title) are rough and still need work. Nonetheless, the book is still hilarious. There are little contradictions and inconsistincies, but any DNA fan will happily ignore them. How sad we would be if the chapters never saw the light of day.

I really enjoyed reading this book and took longer to savor each chapter. I think everyone should read this, but only after you've read his other series - it will be worth the wait and you will savor this last collection of his writing that much more. It really is a shame he didn't get to see his movie made, a project he labored over for years. Any Adams fan will love this book.

Coach

2006 Book Challenge, #4: Coach, by Michael Lewis.

Michael Lewis is one of the greatest writers around. This is another short book (91 pages, counting photos). Like, God's Debris, I was conflicted about including this, but again I've gotten over it. Lewis is a great writer. Period. Get yourself a copy. Then read Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Money Culture and all of his writings over at slate.

As for the book, the back cover describes it as: "A story with a big heart about a boy, a coach, and the game of life." As a memoir, it's super short and very incomplete. At the same time, it's a thorough examination of modern school life, adolescence, and ultimately, what it means to be a man.

If I had a complaint it would be that the pictures in the book serve no purpose other than as filler. This is really a short story, disguised as a book. Further, there is only one original photo of Lewis - the rest are stock photos. Despite that, I recommend this quick read.

God's Debris

2006 Book Challenge, #3: God's Debris, by Scott Adams. Here is the author's synopsis:

Imagine that you meet a very old man who—you eventually realize—knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life—quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability—in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn’t the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what’s wrong with the old man’s explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage.

It should be clear that this is not a Dilbert book. It is however, very enjoyable. Plus it's free. If you like, you can also get it through Amazon, if you don't want to read it online or kill your toner cartridge printing it out. I plan on reading the sequel, The Religion War. It is also very short, so I feel a little guilty including this on my list, but I'll get over it.

Here are some of the author's thoughts about the intended audience:

The story contains no violence, no sexual content, and no offensive language. But the ideas expressed by the characters are inappropriate for young minds. People under the age of fourteen should not read it.

The target audience for God’s Debris is people who enjoy having their brains spun around inside their skulls. After a certain age most people are uncomfortable with new ideas. That certain age varies by person, but if you’re over fifty-five (mentally) you probably won’t enjoy this thought experiment. If you’re eighty going on thirty-five, you might like it. If you’re twenty-three, your odds of liking it are very good.

Complications

2006 Book Challenge, #2: Complications, by Atul Gawande.

If I read a better book this year I will be surprised. You should get your hands on a copy soon. You could pick a chapter at random and write a book on the topic. Many doctoral students will, I'm sure. I'll write a longer review soon, but you don't need to read it, just get this book. The only downside is that you'll be very nervous about seeing a doctor any time soon.

Mind Over Money

2006 Book Challenge, #1: Mind over Money: Your Path to Wealth and Happiness, by Eric Tyson. Despite the garish subtitle and cover, this is a legitimate financial planning book, and not some random self-help book. Authors usually have little control over the final presentation of the book, so let's let Tyson slide. Mind over Money is a companion to Tyson's popular Personal Finance for Dummies. It should be read that way too. Reading this alone, without a personal finance book, would be unsatisfying, since this book doesn't explain the basics of investing, or even how much you should be investing. For all that, you'll want to read his dummies book. Where this book excels is in classifying different types of investors and explaining the pitfalls people most often make.

So, if you are like me, you will be an overspender and an avoider. Knowing that may not make me a better investor, but it's certainly a wake up call. My hunch is that people treat their new year's resolutions towards money the same way they treat their resolution to use the nordic track in the basement three times a week. This book is a slap in the face, albeit a gentle slap.

One area that I would like to see improved regards the lack of footnotes. I hate sentence like the following: "Studies show that ..." Really? What studies show that? And should it really be plural, or is the author just citing one study he happened across? It would be very easy to add some endnotes; most readers would just skip them anyway. In some cases, I knew, or had a good sense of what he was citing, but not always. In part, this is intentional. Tyson fears that too many people over-think things and that having too much information will lead some individuals to read too much and to study too much. Some investors will continue their bad habits of changing investments as soon as they read a new article, while others will delay investing until they've read all the citations in the book, so I understand his concern. Financial planning should be easy, and Tyson strives to keep things simple. Still, it'd be nice to have. Otherwise, it was a fine book, and recommended.

Chairman Greenspan

Since today is Alan Greenspan's last day in office, I thought it'd be fitting to offer a few good books if you want to read something about the Chairman. I'll suggest just two out of many, many options.

First, for a broad view of his life, try Justin Martin's Greenspan: The Man Behind Money. You'll learn all about his youth, his affiliation with Ayn Rand, his love of music, and his career before the Fed. While there is a discussion of his time as Chairman, this book is better at providing the wide view of Greenspan's life. It's not without its faults - it was written without the cooperation of the Chairman, so it's drawn from secondary sources and interviews with former colleagues and friends, but it's still worth reading.

Unfortunately for Martin, his book was released at the same time as Bob Woodward's attention- grabbing book on the same subject. If there is any good news for Martin, it's that the books are highly complementary. Bob Woodward's Maestro deals in depth with the subject's time at the Fed and gives little attention to the prior periods. Hence there is a nice synergy between these books.

Robert Kuttner offers a less sanguine, but still generally good review of both books, if you want another opinion.

This is a great time to be covering Fed policy. Greg Ip had a very long, detailed look at the Federal Reserve in yesterday's WSJ, and there are op-eds running all week in the same paper. Robert Barro wrote yesterday's column and Milton Friedman did today's. If you have access you should check out all the coverage.

If you want more background on the Federal Reserve, they publish a very useful guide entitled The Federal Reserve System: Purposes & Functions. A free online version is available here. If you want a hard copy you can order through the NY Fed website (it's free.)

Suk-No-Mor

I missed Thumbsucker in theaters, but I've had a chance to read the book, and it is excellent. I really recommend it. The dvd will be released on Jan. 24, 2006, so while you're waiting anxiously, read the book now.

The plot and all those important details:

This eighties-centric, Ritalin-fueled, pitch-perfect comic novel by a writer to watch brings energy and originality to the classic Midwestern coming-of-age story.

Meet Justin Cobb, "the King Kong of oral obsessives" (as his dentist dubs him) and the most appealingly bright and screwed-up fictional adolescent since Holden Caulfield donned his hunter's cap. For years, no remedy--not orthodontia, not the escalating threats of his father, Mike, a washed-out linebacker turned sporting goods entrepreneur, not the noxious cayenne pepper-based Suk-No-Mor--can cure Justin's thumbsucking habit.

Then a course of hypnosis seemingly does the trick, but true to the conservation of neurotic energy, the problem doesn't so much disappear as relocate. Sex, substance abuse, speech team, fly-fishing, honest work, even Mormonism--Justin throws himself into each pursuit with a hyperactive energy that even his daily Ritalin dose does little to blunt.

Each time, however, he discovers that there is no escaping the unruly imperatives of his self and the confines of his deeply eccentric family. The only "cure" for the adolescent condition is time and distance.

Always funny, sometimes hilariously so, occasionally poignant, and even disturbing, deeply wise on the vexed subject of fathers and sons, Walter Kirn's Thumbsucker is an utterly fresh and all-American take on the painful process of growing up.

The book really is delightful. Kirn's other books are supposed to be equally good, so check those out as well.