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studeronomy's reviews
97 reviews
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
2.0
A pamphlet on the Trump presidency that will not age well much beyond the Trump presidency, though it contains some good insights. I wish it had been longer and featured more historical detail. Snyder is an extremely gifted historian but not the best polemicist.
The New Testament by David Bentley Hart
4.0
A momentous achievement for DBH, but not always easy to follow. A fascinating translation if not always the most readable. I would have appreciated many more notes.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
2.0
A brilliant concept—the protagonist is a Christian missionary who travels to another planet to spread the faith—but too many interesting ideas and ramifications of this concept are left totally unexplored. I loved the part when he first arrives at the alien settlement, only to discover that they already know about Christianity. The Catholic church contains many stories like this from the period of European exploration of the Americas. Tracing the implications of such a miraculous event would be fascinating, but no, it turns out they merely had a previous missionary living among them. Lots of moments like this fill the book: a surprising or fascinating turn, ultimately dropped by Faber.
How Fiction Works by James Wood
4.0
A series of beautiful meditations on the nature of fiction more than a coherent, sustained argument. A delightful read.
The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter
5.0
An exhilarating translation. The introduction is insightful, informative, and engaging. Alter guides you through his process with thorough and thoughtful footnotes. His decisions, particularly the difficult ones (there are many, given the vast differences between Biblical Hebrew and Modern English), are explained fully, and alternative translations are sometimes offered. This is the only Psalms I use.
American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology by D.W. Pasulka
4.0
A really moving work of scholarship—an academic book that is unlike any academic book you're likely to read, but also a thorough and rigorous work of scholarship. Diana Walsh Pasulka's account of Catholicism is beautiful. Her work on UFOs is extremely thoughtful and well-framed. This book sent me down dozens of new rabbitholes. Extremely satisfying.
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale by Herman Melville
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Every few years, I reread Moby Dick. This was my fifth reading, if not the sixth (excluding the Great Illustrated Classics version I read as a kid, which was fun). Rereading Moby Dick is my way of reorienting my position as an American and a human being in the world.
I decided to listen to an audio recording of the novel this time around. I used The Moby-Dick Big Read, available on Apple’s podcasts app. Each chapter is read by a different actor, most of them from the U.S. or U.K. The impression that I got from listening to the novel—i.e., what I learned about the novel this time around, because I learn something different each time—is that Moby Dick works not as a novel (we all know it's horrible as a novel) but as a series of vignettes, sermons, and essays. Like Finnegan’s Wake or any great poem or play, Moby Dick demands to be read aloud.
Further, we all know that Moby Dick is a book that lacks a plot or characters in any ordinary sense. Consequently, you can more or less read the chapters in any order and lose nothing of the plot/character development. And if you take any single chapter of Moby Dick and read it in isolation, you’ll be struck by how well the chapter works completely on its own. This is especially true of the chapters that, for me, possess a beauty and infallibility that approaches Scripture: “The Pacific,” “Brit,” “The Symphony,” “Loomings,” “The Gilder,” “The Try-Works,” “A Squeeze of the Hand,” “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish,” “The Grand Armada,” and “Stubb’s Supper.” Read each of these chapters as an essay unto itself, and you’ll discover a damning retort to Ralph Waldo Emerson and the entire American project, only more gorgeous and darker than anything written by Emerson or any other American. At this late date in the collapse of the American empire, it's time for us all to revisit Moby Dick.
I decided to listen to an audio recording of the novel this time around. I used The Moby-Dick Big Read, available on Apple’s podcasts app. Each chapter is read by a different actor, most of them from the U.S. or U.K. The impression that I got from listening to the novel—i.e., what I learned about the novel this time around, because I learn something different each time—is that Moby Dick works not as a novel (we all know it's horrible as a novel) but as a series of vignettes, sermons, and essays. Like Finnegan’s Wake or any great poem or play, Moby Dick demands to be read aloud.
Further, we all know that Moby Dick is a book that lacks a plot or characters in any ordinary sense. Consequently, you can more or less read the chapters in any order and lose nothing of the plot/character development. And if you take any single chapter of Moby Dick and read it in isolation, you’ll be struck by how well the chapter works completely on its own. This is especially true of the chapters that, for me, possess a beauty and infallibility that approaches Scripture: “The Pacific,” “Brit,” “The Symphony,” “Loomings,” “The Gilder,” “The Try-Works,” “A Squeeze of the Hand,” “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish,” “The Grand Armada,” and “Stubb’s Supper.” Read each of these chapters as an essay unto itself, and you’ll discover a damning retort to Ralph Waldo Emerson and the entire American project, only more gorgeous and darker than anything written by Emerson or any other American. At this late date in the collapse of the American empire, it's time for us all to revisit Moby Dick.
Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein
4.0
Offers a solid overview and summary on the academic literature on polarization in U.S. national politics. His original ideas aren’t as strong as the research he surveys, but Klein is keenly aware of his limits and fesses up almost every time he gets in over his head (I hate concluding chapters, he writes in his concluding chapter, but he does the concluding chapter stuff anyway). Very insightful book, by turns depressing and inspiring. I like the way Klein’s career has developed and his voice has matured.