The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

Wow, what a great book!

Ancient philosophy is a subject I really struggle with, beyond Stoicism, or at least the benefits of Roman Stoicism through a modern lens.

That's probably why I only read this book just now after downloading it some years ago.

But The Swerve shed a new light for me on Epicureanism.  The book tells the story of Poggio Bracciolini, a Florentine, who, following his stint as secretary to the pope, spent years searching through dusty, monastic libraries in the search of lost, ancient texts.

He found several, but most notably, a copy of De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things) by the Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius.  Lost for hundreds of years, the poem expounds the philosophy of Epicurus in beautiful dactylic hexameters.

Poggio's discovery helped many of the great writers, philosophers and scientists (think Montaigne, Newton, Voltaire, Einstein) advance their own works in the centuries to follow.  Epicurus wrote that everything in this world consists of atoms (stunningly original thinking for the 4th century BC) that occasionally swerve of their own accord, eluding determinism, and potentially rivaling divine providence.

This led me to take a deeper dive into Epicureanism, a fascinating philosophy, exceptional for its establishment in the 4th century BC (and too much for outlining here).

More examples of ancient Greek brilliance.

The Oxford History of Modern China

We've largely decided to push back our plans to visit China due to concerns around the war with Iran, but I'm choosing to look at this as an opportunity to study China on a more deliberate, deeper path.

As promised, this book wove a tapestry both wide and, selectively, deep, into modern China, which it defines as starting during Qing, through to the reign of Xi Jinping (a man whom I need to study deeply).

Although I've read through much of this period before, the review and scholarly perspective of these authors, as is always the case with Oxford Histories, provided an important refresher with added context and perspective.

I wish I could read them all...

Mediterranean Winter by Robert D. Kaplan

I started this book because I needed one more volume for our recent trip to Sicily, one of the island's Kaplan visited as a young man, a trip that served as a cornerstone for this book.

Serendipitously, I ended up reading most of the book while in Sicily, something that added to the experience of both reading the book and visiting the island.

I normally finish my study of the places we visit in advance of the actual trips; rarely do I keep studying the subject while visiting.  That's something I need to change moving forward.

Reading a travelers story of visiting Sicily while actually visiting the island myself was richly rewarding.  And it immediately led me to re-read other relevant extracts, from Lawrence Durrell, Aeschylus, Thucydides and more.

Sicily: A Literary Guide for Travelers

I feel like I've discovered a little bit of treasure with this book and it's broader series.

In preparation for our last few trips I've been reading more and more non-history books about the places we are about to visit, including a dose of fiction.  It's been a new way for me to dive deeper into the cultures we visit.

This book uncovers dozens, if not hundreds, of such books for me to explore around Sicily, going region by region, chapter by chapter.  Some of the references were from books I had previously read (by Durrell, Sameti, Lampedusa), some were by authors I know of but have never read (Goethe, Capote, Camilleri), and many were completely unknow to me.

My only regret is that I didn't discover this book earlier in my preparation for our upcoming trip to Sicily (5 days from now!).  To avoid such a calamity in the future, I've already downloaded the series' book on Greece, even though we don't know when our next trip there will take place.

Treasure, indeed!

The Story of the Stone - Volume 2 - Cao Xueqin

Nothing new to add since finishing volume 1, except that I stumbled across The Companion to the Story of the Stone by Susan Chan Egan and Pai Hsien-yung, which I am diligently following.

This chapter by chapter preview and analysis, as anticipated, is really helping me understand the larger story, as well as identifying details that I would have otherwise missed.  It is proving to be immensely helpful.

I'm feeling confident about working my way through the entire series of novels, and I'm not feeling rushed about it.

The Sicilian Carousel by Lawrence Durrell

This was my favorite book by Durrell that I've read so far, probably because it covers a topic I've been researching quite a lot over the last year.  The Sicilian Carousel refers to a trip he took around Sicily in the 1970s, on an itinerary that greatly mirrors our itinerary for this coming Fall.

More than just a travelogue, the book details the quirks of group travel, highlighting the foibles and eccentricities of Durrell's fellow travelers.  

And poignantly it also includes letters written by his late friend Martine, who lived in Sicily for many years.  She had urged Durrell to visit her there many times, unsuccessfully.  He brings her letters with him, often re-reading them from the same spots from which she had written them many years prior.

There's something about Lawrence Durrell's writing that intrigues me.  And this book was no exception.

The Story of the Stone - Volume 1 - Cao Xueqin

This first volume of a five volume series - largely described as the most renowned novel in Chinese history - continues my exploration of Chinese culture.

At times the story seems fantastically original, at times somewhere between Bridgerton and Harry Potter.

Comparisons aside, I'm enjoying it immensely.

We'll see if I make it all of the way through the series in advance of our trip next year, but so far I've thoroughly enjoyed this particular dive into the Chinese experience.

The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai

This book really underscores how China's culture differs widely from Western culture.

It tells the story of Li Bai, one of the greatest Chinese poets of all time, who spent most of his life trying to become a senior government official or military leader.

The notion that poetry-writing acumen would provide the foundation needed to excel in leadership at the highest levels of government is jarring to Western minds, including mine.

I assume that this career path wouldn't float in China of the 21st century, but it was viewed as normal in the 8th century CE during the Tang dynasty.  Although Bai's career at nearly the highest level of government was short lived, and basically a failure, his poetic skills did get him there.

Anyhow, this book has provided a grassroots view of China at that time, detailing Bai's experiences at home with his family, traveling on the road, in inns, restaurants and temples, and yes, serving his emperor in Chang'an.

An Introduction to Confucianism by Xinzhong Yao

At times a tough read, at times a pure joy, this book provided me with a solid, intro level overview of Confucianism, a hugely important topic for my understanding of Chinese culture.

Red Sorghum by Mo Yan

What an interesting book.

Red Sorghum tells the story of a rural Chinese family, centered on the devastating period of the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s.

It brings to life the brutal reality of that war, sometimes in gruesome detail.  Before Red Sorghum I had never read a detailed account of the skinning of a living man.

The book uses the sorghum plants that are ubiquitous in this region as a metaphor for human perseverance through the most unimaginable horrors.  The village in which the story takes place is surrounded by sorghum, using it in endless ways, as food, fuel, medicine, disinfectant, shelter and more.

The sorghum endures the brutality of the war just as do the humans in the story, getting mowed down by gunfire, absorbing the blood and entrails of humans and animals.  But the sorghum always comes back, just as the people do, no matter the devastation.

Red Sorghum also depicts the moral ambiguity of humans in warfare, with few pure heroes in the story.  Perhaps exaggerating for effect, it tells a very real story of both the fragility, and the endurance of humanity.

China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty by Mark Edward Lewis

I'm winding down on this book, part three in a series of six, in the effort to speed up my study of China in advance of our planned trip in the Fall of 2027.

Although a bit dry in writing style, I appreciate the broad approach of each book in this series, covering both the military/political and the cultural history of each dynasty.

I particularly like the treatments of both city and rural life in China as separate domains.

I'm using this series to form a broad outline of imperial China from a macro level before diving deeper into specific areas of interest that cut across dynasties.

I'm particularly interested to study the primary religions of China.  I've studied Buddhism at some length, but very little on Confucianism, and virtually nothing on Daoism.

The Tang, considered a highwater mark in the cultural history of China, along with its cosmopolitanism, as reflected in the book's title, are worth of deeper exploration on its own.

Much, much more reading to come on China over the next 18 months.

On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal by Mary Taylor Simeti

This journal by American expat Mary Taylor Simeti chronicles a year in her life in Sicily.  Married to a Sicilian and with two children, they live the fanciful life of those who ponder moving to a Mediterranean idyll.  The journal tells her story some twenty years into her life in Sicily, set in the early 1980s.

Splitting their year between the aging beauty of Palermo and the rustic fecundity of their small, but working, farm nearby, life vacillates between the solemn ritual of Sicilian festivals, familial joy, corrupt government, Mafia killings and sweet ennui.

Simeti ponders her life as that of Persephone, lost between two worlds, not quite American, but not quite Sicilian.

Life on the farm, not surprisingly, surrounds them with fauna, something that Simeti glories in.  And although I am ignorant of such things, it underscores the importance of Sicily to ancient Rome as a primary breadbasket.  

Thought not a travel book, it chronicles family outings to some of the island's most popular destinations, fortunately from the perspective of someone who knows her classics and the literature of the island.  Palermo, Segesta, Trapani, Erice, Ortigia, Enna and many more receive their due, in a fashion not found in any travel books that I know.

The book sets a certain tone to our upcoming trip to Sicily, presenting a comprehensive, real life 20th century view on what to expect, the good, the bad and the glorious.

The Greek Epic Cycle and it's Ancient Reception

This was a joy.  Thanks to books like this I'm digging deeper into Greek mythology than I ever would have anticipated.

My main takeaway is the vastness of the corpus of Greek epic.  

We know it centered on Homer and his Iliad and Odyssey.  But as this study underscores, although those two works were the shining stars, they were a tiny portion of the sum total.

And I just can't say enough about these Cambridge companion books as I read more and more of them.  They dig so much deeper than anything else I've read; they challenge me, occasionally leaping far over my head, but mostly pull me further into these fascinating topics.

And now for something completely different, we are starting to talk about visiting China in the fall of 2027, which has deep implications for my reading over the next 18 months.  Very exciting.  More to come!

Archimedes, Fulcrum of Science by Nicholas Nicastro

The book was fine, but perhaps it's misleading to even write a full-length book about a figure for whom so little is known.  With the dearth of sources, Nicastro was forced to write at length about the time in which Archimedes lived, the people who he associated with, and events from his age, without much evidence of his actual life.

And unfortunately this resulted in a larger dose of speculation than I would normally expect in a biography.

Anyhow, Archimedes was a great man whose modern reputation is muted as compared to his actual influence on science and the progress of civilization.

Onward.

Proto by Laura Spinney

I'm fascinated by linguistics, but this book was a bit of a struggle for me.  I would like to think that the problem was that the book's level of expertise falls too far advanced for the lay person, while also too elementary for the specialist.

But the true problem lies in the fact that I just don't know enough about the topic to fully understand it.  My poor understanding of the geography of central Asia and eastern Europe, in particular, made it difficult to follow at times.  My lack of knowledge of pre-history, in the realm of anthropology, didn't help.

But still, my appreciation for the science of linguistics remains undiminished.  Its ability to track the movement of languages by the movement of people and their cultures (and vice versa) is truly remarkable, a topic I need to explore further as time permits.

The Rise & Fall of Alexandria (again!)

I've just re-read this book, and enjoyed it as least much as I did the first time back in 2008.

Perhaps the biggest difference with this second reading is that I've now visited so many more of the ancient sites referenced in the book, most notably across modern Turkey, including Byzantium/Constantinople, Ephesus, Pergamum, Didyma, Perge and more.  

Alexandria's prominence in the Hellenistic period also converges with that of Syracuse, which we will be visiting later this year on our trip through Sicily.  Many of the great thinkers of the era passed back and forth between those two great cities.

Glad to be taking this sojourn through the Hellenistic!

Seeking Sicily by John Keahey

As with The Leopard, great writing uncovers the secrets and nuances that help enrich my travel experiences.  And well-written travel essays are a part of that magic process for me.

While some such essays are too obscure and allegoric for me to fully appreciate, this one struck the right balance, with short, descriptive but easy to understand stories.

Keahey visited Sicily four times within one year, visiting it's largest cities and it's smallest villages, always uncovering people's stories from the past that help paint a touching, often painful, but culturally rich picture of this elusive island.  

The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa

I'm really learning that literature provides a powerful pathway to understanding a culture.  This was re-enforced with my reading of The Leopard, one of the most famous of Sicilian novels.

Set in the period following the unification of Italy and it's incorporation of Sicily as part of that new nation, it tells the heartfelt story of an aristocrat and his family enduring that transition.

Don Fabrizio - the patron of the Salinas family - watches Sicily's identity fade as it's swallowed by Italy, just as he endures his own fading identity and slow march to death.

It was beautifully told, a poignant story that will help me appreciate Sicily on a deeper level in our upcoming trip.

The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential by Zack Kass

AI really will be the next Renaissance, a point well made by Kass.

It's not just another powerful technology.  It's setting the stage for true transformation, and I couldn't be more optimistic about its potential.

Kass uses his personal experience of working with OpenAI to paint a picture of the possibilities in a variety of fields, including transportation, healthcare, education and the workplace.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Probably my second favorite read by Stephen King, following The Stand.  Interestingly, I used AI to help pick Under The Dome, specifically querying which of King's books would I enjoy the most if The Stand was already my favorite.  AI pretty much nailed this one.

I've always favored long, epic works, of which King excels. Under The Dome tells the an epic story of a town in Maine that suddenly becomes covered in an impenetrable, clear dome.

What ensues for most of the book reminded my of Lord of the Flies, with otherwise normal humans turning on themselves.  It also felt a bit like Nazi Germany, with the town's leadership arming a police force of teenage boys to build power.

But in the end, the message landed in a different place, alluding to the behavior of everyday children who kill ants with a magnifying glass, or laughingly trap them in an antfarm.

It turns out that the dome was created by children from an extra-terrestrial civilization who are doing nothing but playing with humans in a small town on Earth.  Literally toying with us and laughing while doing it.

The message: Don't get your jollies by abusing weaker creatures.  And it's not enough to simply feel bad about such behavior; we must take action to eliminate it.

A worthy message for this animal welfare advocate.