That Hideous Strength

A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups
Part Three of the Space Trilogy
Author: C. S. Lewis
Genre: fiction, Christian fiction (sort of), science fiction (sort of)
Publication info: Macmillan, 1990 (originally published in 1946)
Pages: 382


This book has a quality that usually bothers me, and yet I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot. The quality I speak of is a "message" that the author is trying to get across to the readers. In poorly written message stories, the message takes precedence over everything else—plot, character, general believability.

That Hideous Strength definitely has a message. But it is also definitely well written.

Although this book is labeled as the sequel to Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, it is quite different from those two novels in several ways. For one thing, it revolves around two entirely new characters. Jane and Mark Studdock are recently married, but they already seem to be drifting apart. (In fact, there's only one scene in the entire novel that includes both of them together.) Mark is a don at the fictional Bracton College in Edgestow. The college is finalizing a deal to sell some precious, historical land to a corporation called National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.). Before he knows it, he's swept up into the very highest levels of the N.I.C.E. and helping it to achieve its mysterious but definitely sinister aims.

Jane, meanwhile, is suffering from vivid and disturbing dreams that seem to be accurately predicting the future. In her effort to find out what's going on, she finds herself associated with a small group who call themselves the Company, with our old friend Dr. Ransom at its head. The Company is a stronghold for good in England, and it's preparing to fight against the quickly growing evil spearheaded by none other than the N.I.C.E. In other words, Jane and Mark are on opposite sides of a battle in which the stakes are unimaginably high.

It's a compelling story, I think, and the writing is very polished. I guess that's why I liked it even though the messages are rather overt. One such message is one Lewis considered very important, according to his biography that I read earlier. Humans are naturally inclined to be a part of the "inner circle," an elite group that by definition includes only a few and excludes all the others. It is Mark's desire to be a part of the inner circle that gets him involved in all the evil schemes of the N.I.C.E. Jane, on the other hand, is also part of a small group, but this group has no desire to exclude anyone.

I knew going into this book that it wouldn't involve any space travel, unlike its predecessors, and because of that I was worried it would be a little dull. To my surprise, I think it is possibly the most exciting installment of the whole trilogy. Part of that is due to its compelling depiction of genuine evil. Some parts of the book really gave me the creeps because of how dark they were and also because of how plausible they seemed.

If you enjoy and respect the writing of C. S. Lewis, I highly recommend this book. You can even read it without having read the other two parts of the trilogy (Lewis said so himself). I probably should warn you, though, that this isn't a children's book. The climactic finish is surprisingly violent, and the book deals with some topics that children wouldn't appreciate. But the book has many lessons that I hope many adults will appreciate.

Tron: Betrayal

An Original Graphic Novel Prequel to Tron: Legacy
Author: Jai Nitz
Artists: Jeff Matsuda and Andie Tong
Genre: graphic novel, science fiction
Publication info: Disney Press, 2010
Pages: 127

Yes, I admit it: I went from a C. S. Lewis book to a graphic novel. But there is something you need to know about me. I am a total Tron geek. When my family got its first VCR years ago, for some reason the first thing we recorded from TV was Disney's original 1982 film. I grew up on that movie, watching it nearly every day as a kid (much to my parents' and sisters' chagrin).

I eventually grew out of that phase, but when I heard, about a year and a half ago, that Disney was making a sequel, all my Tron mania returned. Now I recognize how geeky (and sometimes even campy) the whole idea is, but I have never been more excited for a movie in my life, and I probably never will be again. I've learned to accept that. It's like being validated after all these years.

In just a few days, the wait will be over!

One unique aspect of this long-awaited sequel, Tron: Legacy, is the fact that it is so long-awaited. It has been 28 years. How do you connect two movies that are separated by so much time? Disney has found some creative ways to attack this problem. One is a set of video games that, rather than simply retelling the story of the movie (as so many film-based games do), take place in between the two movies and fill in the gaps. The other is this book, Tron: Betrayal.

The prologue of this book summarizes the events of the first movie, which shows Kevin Flynn's adventures in the computer world. The new story begins immediately afterwards. Flynn has become the CEO of tech giant Encom, Inc. He has also gotten married, and his wife is expecting a son (Sam, who will be the main character of the upcoming movie). And he has created a new computer system which he dubs Tron.

Always innovative, Flynn sets out to make it "the perfect system." He enlists the help of his old friend Tron to be in charge of security. And then he creates a program named Clu in his own likeness to keep things running smoothly. At first everything works great. Then the system starts spontaneously creating new programs, called isos, who choose their own names and run more or less independently. Flynn is excited about this development and its implication. Clu, on the other hand, has other ideas about how the system should be run.

I have to admit, it's actually a pretty interesting story. Now I want to make it clear that I have never been a fan of graphic novels. I probably would have preferred this prequel to be done in another form, but what could I do? Since I have no experience with this genre, I don't know if some of the things that bothered me were unique to this book or characteristic of graphic novels in general. Sometimes the story felt disjointed, with strangely abrupt scene changes. Sometimes it was hard to tell what was going on based on the pictures.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading through this little book. The pictures are of very high quality. And most of all, I was glad to find out how the two movies are connected. I recommend this book to all Tron fans. I think it's a great preparation for the movie opening next week.

I can't tell you how excited I am for that.

Perelandra

Part Two of the Space Trilogy
Author: C. S. Lewis
Genre: fiction, science fiction (sort of)
Publication info: Scribner Classics, 1996 (originally published in 1944)
Pages: 190

You probably know by now that I am a pretty big fan of C. S. Lewis. As such, I'm surprised it took me this long to get to this book. I read part one of the trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, nearly ten years ago. I loved it, but when I tried to read this second installment, I had a hard time getting into it. With some prodding from my sister, I finally returned to this book.

The hero of this lesser-known series is Elwin Ransom, who in the first book traveled to Mars (Malacandra) and became acquainted with the eldila—mystical energy beings who are forces for good in the universe. Now that Ransom has returned home, the eldila have an assignment for him. He is to go to the young planet Perelandra, known to us as Venus.

Without knowing any details of his mission, Ransom travels to Perelandra, which he finds to be an utterly strange and beautiful place. Flexible islands float on a vast ocean, trees bear bubbles of water, and the night is totally dark. Soon he encounters a woman, the only woman in the world, much like Eve in our world. And, similar to what happened with Eve, a tempter arrives to disturb this paradisiacal world.

Like all of Lewis's fiction, Perelandra is heavily laden with Christian messages. I don't normally like when the message is more important than the story. But it turns out that this is also a pretty compelling story. He has excellent descriptions of a world totally foreign to our own. Some moments in the book are fairly intense and very fun to visualize.

As for the Christian teachings, once again Lewis gives you a lot to think about. It isn't always easy to understand, but much of it feels very true to life. For instance, his depiction of the devil is almost frighteningly realistic. Dr. Ransom also provides a great example of submitting to the will of God.

If you are a fan of C. S. Lewis, definitely don't miss this book. If you like Christian fiction and want something that will really make you think, you can't go wrong with this book. I understand that not everyone will like this type of book, but I for one am glad that I finally read it.

The Good Earth

Author: Pearl S. Buck
Genre: fiction
Publication info: Buccaneer Books (the one I read, anyway), 1931
Pages: 260

I'm lucky to have family and friends who love to read, and whose reading tastes are similar to mine. When I'm looking for a new book to read, I often rely on recommendations, and the books recommended to me turn out to be some of the books I enjoy the most.

Such was my experience with The Good Earth. I had heard of it, as I'm sure most people have, and I was vaguely aware that it is good, but it wasn't until it was specifically recommended to me that I finally got down to reading it. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I knew early on that this wasn't like most books I've read, and it was hard to get used to at first, but pretty soon I came to enjoy it.

The Good Earth is the story of a poor Chinese farmer named Wang Lung. His story begins when he marries a woman who was a slave in the great house of Hwang. Although their relationship seems nothing more than cordial, the presence of O-lan (the wife) improves things vastly. Although there is a brief period of destitution, Wang Lung's family quickly rises from being poor farmers to being wealthy land owners.

What Wang Lung discovers is that the problems of the rich possibly outweigh the problems of the poor. At least that's what I got out of it. After reading about this man's life, I think I'd much rather be poor than obscenely rich. Wang Lung makes stupid mistakes, his sons bring him grief, and his relatives beg from him. At the end, though, there's no real reason to believe that Wang Lung has become a better person from all his trials.

It's an interesting book, a difficult one to describe. I would like to say I wish I'd read it sooner, but I'm not sure I would have appreciated it had I read it when I was younger. What's really fascinating about this book is the picture it gives of Chinese culture. It's quite a bit different from the one I know, but there definitely are values I could learn from it, especially family loyalty.

So my judgment is that The Good Earth. It's skilfully, sometimes even beautifully written, and its story is one you'll be likely to think about for a long time.

Man's Search for Meaning

Author: Viktor E. Frankl
Genre: nonfiction, psychology
Publication info: Washington Square Press, 1984 (first published in English in 1959, and it has gone through many editions)
Pages: 221 (including bibliography)

This book makes me want to shout for joy!

Undoubtedly you've heard of this book. I think I first heard about it when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and it wasn't until now that I finally read it. I can see now that I was missing out on something great. If you are one of those people, like I was, who says, "I've heard that's a good book. Maybe I should read it," I say, Yes, you definitely should!

Most people know this book as one man's harrowing account of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. It is certainly that, but it is also much more. It is not so much a story of what happened to him and his friends but an explanation of what he learned from those experiences—and how he took what he learned and created a revolutionary school of psychiatry called logotherapy.

Logotherapy is the therapy of meaning. The preface to the edition I read explains logotherapy as a sort of Freudian analysis turned on its head. Whereas Freud and his followers would have you search into your childhood for some kind of trauma—usually sexual in nature—and confront that to solve your problems, Frankl and his school asks you to dig deep for a meaning in your life—a purpose for living. Frankl himself, for example, often thought of his wife while in the camp. In fact, he talked with her, and doing so kept him going even while everything around him was so terrible.

Frankl's utterly realistic approach is refreshing. During my short-lived stint as an English major, I took a couple classes on literary theory, and I quickly grew frustrated with the psychoanalytical technique of finding sexual symbolism in everything. But instead of having us look at our frustrations in base, animal desires, logotherapy has us look at our existential crisis, our search for meaning. We are humans first, animals second.

I suppose one of the greatest lessons to learn from this book is that no matter what our circumstances are, we can choose how we respond to them. It's hard to imagine circumstances more appalling than what Frankl faced. He really had nothing but his own life, and that just barely. But he found a meaning in his life and chose to live for it. All of us can do the same.

The book has two major sections. The first is the story of his time in concentration camps. It is disturbing and heartbreaking, but the way he writes about it will surprisingly give you hope. The second part summarizes the practice of logotherapy. Since that part is more abstract than the first, I thought it would be harder to read, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's grounded in reality as I mentioned, and the way Frankl understands life and people is very reassuring. It was at the end of these more abstract parts that I wanted to shout for joy.

I think everyone would benefit from reading this book. Viktor Frankl was a brilliant man, but I think his real greatness was his warm, caring insight into the nature of human beings. Read this book. Isn't it about time you did?

Lincoln's Melancholy

How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness
Author: Joshua Wolf Shenk
Genre: nonfiction, biography
Publication info: Houghton Mifflin, 2005
Pages: 350 (including notes, bibliography, and index)

Have you heard? Abraham Lincoln was an amazing man. And he was also seriously depressed.

I hesitate to call this book a biography, because it doesn't discuss the events of Lincoln's life as a biography normally would. You don't really get a complete picture of his life from this book alone. But you do get a close look at one aspect of his life that until recently has been either ignored or outright denied by other biographers: Lincoln's depression. It is Shenk's goal in this book to show that Lincoln was in fact depressed, to show how he responded to his "melancholy" and what he did with it.

The research behind this book is impressive. Shenk goes straight to primary sources, using letters from Lincoln and interviews with people who knew him personally. All this evidence makes clear that Lincoln dealt with serious depression long before the condition was a recognizable illness. Along the way, Shenk gives us a picture of what depression in general is like, and I appreciate his doing so. I believe he's had personal experience in that area, so he knows what he is talking about. And what he says rings true for me.

But the remarkable part about Lincoln in this book is not the extent to which he suffered but rather what he was able to make out of his agony, his melancholy. Shenk emphasizes that Lincoln didn't passively endure his depression; he drew power from it somehow and used it to achieve the great things he did. Many times Lincoln expressed the desire to commit suicide, but he didn't do it, because he felt that he had a calling in life, something great to do. We all know now what great things he did, but the fact that he didn't—the fact that he didn't know he would be remembered or even accomplish anything of value—and yet carried on through his agony is one reason (among many) that he was so amazing.

I would recommend this book to just about anybody. If you are interested in the life of Abraham Lincoln (and what American wouldn't be?), you will like this book. If you want an inspiring story about overcoming enormous obstacles, this could be the one you're looking for. And especially if you have had close experience with depression, you will appreciate the insights of this book. You will find a great example of how to live a meaningful life even when your own mind is working against you.

The Historian

Author: Elizabeth Kostova
Genre: fiction, mystery, horror
Publication info: Little, Brown, 2005
Pages: 642

Nerds have adventures too!

That's one thing I like about this book. When I was talking recently with a friend about The Historian, the best way I could describe it was as a "nerdy thriller." Unfortunately, I was only about halfway through at the time and had yet to discover that there really isn't much thrill after all. But nerds abound—all the major characters are serious academics who do some intense research. I guess I enjoy that because that's the way my career may take me, except I hope my research doesn't endanger my life as it does theirs.

The Historian centers on the legend of Dracula, who was a real person otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, prince of Wallachia. When the unnamed narrator asks her father about a strange book she finds in his study, he reluctantly tells her of his quest to find Dracula's tomb and his missing dissertation adviser, Bartholomew Rossi. Professor Rossi, you see, had also been given a similar mysterious book, sending him on a quest to learn about Dracula and whether or not he is still alive—or better put, undead.

If you're confused by this description, that's because it's my best attempt to capture the multiple layers of the book. The bulk of the story is actually a story within a story, the narrator's father telling his tale. But included in that tale are other tales from other people, resulting in even more layers. I count all this as a fault in the book, because with all these stories within stories, the overall plot loses its immediacy. At times when I almost feel suspense, I remember that what I'm reading took place nearly twenty years before the time of the present story. I think the story could have been much more exciting if it was structured and presented in a different way.

The strengths of the book are its research and atmosphere. It's hard to tell where historical fact ends and fiction begins, and I enjoy that aspect. It has certainly motivated me to learn more about Vlad Dracula. I enjoy that the book treats Dracula and vampires in a way totally different from other literature and movies (including a currently popular series I won't name).

Atmosphere is a big part of the book. The author shows great skill in describing some breathtaking settings all across Europe. I especially enjoy the major segment of the story that takes place in Hungary, since I've been there myself. I love the visits to old libraries, archives, monasteries, and churches. They are fun places to be, and they are fun places to read about.

Overall, The Historian is pretty good, pretty interesting, but it falls short of being a really suspenseful, thrilling story. I feel bad for the publisher that bought the manuscript for two million dollars, thinking it had the next Da Vinci Code on its hands. I'm not saying Dan Brown is a great author, because he's not, but he's much better at suspense than Elizabeth Kostova is.

Still, you might want to give this book a try, especially if you're interested in Dracula and vampires (the dangerous kind, not the sparkly kind). You might enjoy it more than I did.

The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: fiction, young adult, post-apocalyptic
Publication info: Scholastic Press, 2008
Pages: 374

Amazing. Profound. Moving. These are all words I would not use to describe The Hunger Games.

I realize I'm probably going against the majority opinion here, but I just can't understand why this book is so popular. The most I can say for this book is that it's a page-turner, and even then, it didn't have me wanting to turn pages until well after the first hundred. Until that point, I was mostly just annoyed.

Why was I annoyed? Because the book's premise is based on a situation so implausible and simplistic that it was next to impossible for me to care about what happens to any of the characters. (On a side note, I just learned that this book is apparently a direct rip-off of Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, but since I haven't read the other book, I'll confine my criticism to what I know personally.) In a near-future North America that has been ravaged by war and natural disaster, the cleverly named Capitol exercises control over the twelve districts of Panem by requiring each of them them every year to send one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death broadcast on television.

Okay. Why would they do something so disgusting and evil? Because apparently in this dystopian world, nobody has any sense of morality whatsoever. Yep, the Capitol is just that bad. No further explanation needed. And everyone in the districts just rolls with it. They grumble, they groan, but they send their children year after year. And the children? Well, as evil as they see the Games to be, they jump right in and try to kill as many others as they can. Does anybody else see how absurd this is?

Katniss, the protagonist (another requirement for dystopian societies: stupid names), volunteers to go to the games when her little sister is chosen. This is great because you see Katniss as a rebel right from the beginning; she regularly hunts outside the boundaries of her district, a crime punishable by death. So you expect to see her fight against this brutal system, right? She doesn't. Oh, she does a few things here and there to "stick it to them," but they really don't do anything productive. Ultimately, she just goes along with it like everyone else, leaving you wondering why we're supposed to like her.

My other major gripe about this book is that Katniss is always spared from making difficult moral decisions. A good story has good characters that develop throughout the story, and they do so by making tough decisions. We learn about them through the decisions they make. But Katniss has the convenience of being in an arena where people get killed off right and left. Let me explain. Without giving too much away, let's suppose she makes a friend or ally during the Games. Cool; now we wonder what she is going to do about having to kill that person eventually. It's going to be a real test of character for Katniss. But no worries—someone else kills off that friend, so Katniss is spared that difficulty. This happens multiple times during the story, and in the end, we still have no idea whether Katniss has any kind of moral fiber.

The Games themselves are pretty fun and exciting to read about. I'll admit I stayed up rather late one night reading it. But every time the kids fought with each other, I wanted to scream at them, "Does nobody see how wrong this is? Is anybody going to do something about it?" I think the author wants us to believe that the characters are powerless against the system, but if that's the case, she does a lousy job of showing it. I just don't buy it!

I have a few other complaints about the writing style that I'll mention only briefly. The speech tags ("he says," etc.) are done rather poorly. There is too much unneeded description and too little needed description (how big is the arena, anyway?). Events that are supposed to be surprises are easy to predict.

Finally, the ending of the book is really weak. The author couldn't have made it any clearer that there is a sequel if she pinned you down and screamed it in your face. I understand that it's the law (apparently) to write books in a series, but that doesn't mean that each installment shouldn't be able to stand on its own as a story. The flat ending of The Hunger Games makes it impossible for this book to stand on its own. But you can bet that I am never going to read the rest of the series.

Nine Stories

Author: J. D. Salinger
Genre: fiction, short stories
Publication info: Bantam, 1964 (originally published in 1953)
Pages: 198

J. D. Salinger is probably best known for his novel Catcher in the Rye, but this small collection of short stories is my first exposure to his work. Now I can see why he is considered one of the best authors of the twentieth century. These stories present aspects of life that are bizarre yet authentic—something that few authors can accomplish very well. And although most of these stories are quite tragic, they are also quite enjoyable to read.

But probably the thing I noticed most, and the thing I most appreciated, was the dialogue. Most of the stories in this collection are dialogue-heavy, but I didn't mind that at all because this is probably the best dialogue I have ever read. The characters interrupt each other, leave thoughts incomplete, and refer to situations that don't get fully explained. Have you ever read a story in which one character explains something to another character for no other reason than to explain it to the reader because both characters already know it? It's bad practice, and you won't see any of that in Salinger's writing. One of my favorite examples is in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Muriel is talking on the phone with her mother, who is concerned about Muriel's husband after "that incident with the trees." We never find out what that incident was, but we learn all we need to know about the husband's character from that simple reference. Salinger is simply artful with dialogue.

The downside is that the dialogue in these stories often includes a great deal of profanity. It's believable, but not necessarily pleasant. Potential readers be warned!

And speaking of not pleasant, none of these stories really have happy endings, if that's an important thing to you. Some of them end quite tragically, in fact. I for one enjoy that sort of thing, but not everyone does. I'm really glad this book of stories was recommended to me. If you're looking for some good literature that will make you think, this book is a good idea. You'll laugh (yes, some of it is really funny), you'll hurt, you'll wonder—all good things in literature.

Everwild

Book 2 of the Skinjacker Trilogy
Author: Neal Shusterman
Genre: fiction, young adult, fantasy (sort of)
Publication info: Simon & Schuster, 2009
Pages: 424

For those of you keeping score at home, Everlost was the very first book I reviewed on this blog. I raved about it for its brilliance in depicting a world utterly bizarre and foreign and yet at the same time eerily familiar and believable.

A few months ago, I was surprised to come across Everwild, the sequel to Everlost, in the library. I didn't know there was gong to be a sequel. The ending to the first book certainly leaves open the possibility, but not the necessity, of a sequel. Being naturally wary of sequels, I was hesitant to check this book out, but since I loved the first one so much and wanted to return to the world of Everlost, the limbo world of dead children, I just couldn't help myself.

I loved this one too. Maybe this isn't the best-written book in the world or the most profound, but I just love being in the world these books describe.

Everwild begins a short time after the previous book ends. Nick, the newly dead kid from the first book, has embarked on a quest to help all Afterlights (inhabitants of Everlost) to "get where they are going"—in other words, to escape Everlost. But the power-hungry Mary Hightower is on a quest of her own to villify Nick and gain as many followers as she can. Nick soon realizes he will need to confront her, so he sets out to amass an army. And to do that, he'll need to go into the mysterious region of Everlost known as the Everwild.

Meanwhile, Allie, who died at the same time as Nick, is trying to find her family and see how they have been doing since her accident. She is developing her skills as a skinjacker, an Afterlight who can "borrow" the bodies of the living. But skinjacking soon becomes a dangerous obsession for her, leading her to discover a most surprising truth about herself.

I don't want to give too much away here, especially if you haven't read the first book. But I would just like to say that I enjoyed this book immensely, and I was actually pretty sad when it was over. I read it over a single weekend when I was sick, and at the end I thought maybe I had read it too fast. I just can't overemphasize how fun the whole idea is. Some parts had me laughing out loud. And yet while it's fun, it's also grim and eerie.

There are only two potential problems with this book that I can see. The first is that it features quite a bit of "teen angst"—love triangles and whatnot. You'd think Afterlights wouldn't be concerned about love, but they manage somehow. It's not terrible, though. I just wanted to point that out for people who might be bothered by it.

The other point is that whereas Everlost had a pretty satisfying conclusion, Everwild pretty much screams for a sequel. Now it's obvious on the cover that this is part two of a trilogy, so it should be no surprise, but still, it's going to be hard to wait for the third book to come out. It took three years for this one to come, so I might have to wait another couple years before I find out what happens to these Afterlights.

To anyone looking for an interesting and fun book to read, I recommend this series. Definitely read Everlost first, though. And if you have read Everlost and liked it, continue the adventure with Everwild. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

Author: Nicholas Carr
Genre: nonfiction, popular science
Publication info: W. W. Norton, 2010
Pages: 276 (including notes and other supplemental material)

I feel like a hypocrite writing about this on a blog, but I need to get the word out. In The Shallows, author Nicholas Carr brings together the history of technology and neurology to explore how the World Wide Web is changing the way we read and write—and think. What he finds is not pretty.

Actually, it's more than not pretty. It's downright disturbing. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a frequent user of the Internet, so let me ask you: When you are reading a book, do you often get distracted and want to do something else after only two pages? Heck, do you even read books anymore? Do you find it difficult to go walking for any substantial length of time without pulling out your phone, even if nobody is calling or texting you? Your Internet use may be to blame. And it probably is.

You see, the Internet is changing the way our brains work. A few decades ago scientists began discovering that the human brain, even in adults, can be "rewired" to accommodate changing behaviors, both physical and mental. Basically, the brain gets better and faster at what it does the most. And since it's more than likely that most of us are using the Internet with increasing frequency, our brains are adjusting themselves to a style of thinking better suited to the Internet.

What style is that? It's fast. It's superficial. It's distracted. If you haven't noticed, Web pages are designed to distract you. They're full of snippets of information here, a navigation bar there, pictures and a video you can play over there. Not to mention your browser's multiple tabs and all the alerts it's set to give you for e-mails, blog posts, or Twitter updates. I'm not accusing Web designers of sinister motives, but the plain fact is that the Web is made for giving you an onslaught of information all at once.

And our brains are burdened with processing all that information. With every link we come across, our brains have to decide whether to follow it. We have to skim pages to get the information we need fast. (My guess is this blog post already looks too long for frequent blog readers.) And since our brains are "plastic," or adaptable, they rewire themselves to be more efficient at this kind of thinking.

What gets sacrificed as a result is our ability to think deeply and creatively. Yes, maybe our brains are faster at processing a lot of information fast, but only at a superficial level. By frequently taking advantage of what the Web has to offer, we are denying ourselves the ability to synthesize the information we receive and produce original thought. Doesn't that sound scary to you? I guess it all depends on what's important to you, but I certainly place a high value on deep and creative thinking.

Everybody please, please read this book. I hate to be an alarmist, but I feel this is very important. Carr does an excellent job describing relevant research and presenting a coherent argument, much better than I've done here. Plus, by reading a book like this, you're doing a brain a favor. Because the good news is that since our brains can adjust to more frequent Internet use, they can also be trained back. With a lot of discipline, we can become free thinkers again.

The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain

Author: Lloyd Alexander
Genre: fiction, fantasy
Publication info: Henry Holt, 2006 (originally published in 1970)
Pages: 98

 Several years ago I enjoyed the marvelous fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain. If you haven't yet discovered the series, which consists of five novels, I recommend them to you. They may remind you somewhat of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but they have enough of their own unique elements—characters, story lines, and pieces of Welsh mythology—to make them a series worth reading.

If you have in fact read The Chronicles of Prydain, I recommend this book, The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain. I didn't even know this book existed until earlier this year when I found it at a bargain book sale. Apparently Lloyd Alexander had other characters and stories he wanted to explore and explain.

In this collection of short stories, you find the tale of how Dallben came to be the great enchanter that he is, a cautionary tale of how the great sword Dyrnwyn must be handled, the tale of how Eilonwy's mother found her husband, and more. There are eight stories in all, so in a 98-page book, each is pretty short, but each one manages to capture your imagination. At least they captured mine. They are told much like folk tales (with lines such as "This is the tale of . . . And this is how it begins."). Some of them are surprisingly deep for how short they are, especially the story of the sword.

It has been a while since I have read the novels of Prydain (which happens to be the Welsh word for Britain), so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I still very much enjoyed this book. Reading these stories brought me back to that fantasy world I loved. I've said before that I'm not much for fantasy most of the time, but The Chronicles of Prydain, including The Foundling, are a great exception to my rule. I hope you enjoy these books too.

Write Is a Verb

Sit Down, Start Writing, No Excuses
Author: Bill O'Hanlon
Genre: nonfiction, how-to
Publication info: F+W Publications, 2007
Pages: 212 (plus bonus DVD!)

The title says it all. Just get writing, because writing begets writing. The more you write, the more you write. And the better you get at it. So that's what I'm going to do.

But if you, like me, aspire to be a writer and, also like me, need a good kick in the pants, this book might be helpful to you.

The Prince

Author: Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by Peter Bondanella
Genre: nonfiction, politics
Publication info: Oxford World's Classics, 2005 (originally published in 1532)
Pages: 130 (including notes)

Take it from me: The Prince is not exactly a beach read. Or an exercise-bike read, as the case may be. This book takes some serious thinking, which I wasn't always able to give. So I probably didn't get as much out of this book as I could have, but I definitely found it interesting.

You may have heard of The Prince, or maybe you've heard Machiavelli's name. Perhaps what comes to mind is the maxim "The end justifies the means." Well, as it turns out, Machiavelli never actually said that. Not in those exact words, anyway. But in this book he does put forth some principles that may be a little alarming to most decent people. For example, it is most important for a prince to be feared by his subjects. He should always keep his promises, unless he needs to break them in order to maintain his power.

For reasons like those, The Prince has been condemned by many people and organizations. Now I'm not necessarily supporting everything that is said in this book, but I think we should be careful not to take this book for something it isn't. Machiavelli wasn't trying to write a book on how to be a good person. His intention was to instruct princes on how to be effective princes (not good, but effective). And we also need to keep in mind Machiavelli's ultimate goal in writing this book, as he discusses in the final chapter: he wanted a strong leader to come forward that could unify Italy and fortify it against outside influences.

If you want a deeper understanding of The Prince, there are a bazillion scholars who have written about it. My purpose in reading it was actually a little different. I really did want to learn how to be a strong, effective, even ruthless prince, so I could put those abilities and traits into a character I have plans for in a future novel. And I was pretty pleased by the ideas this book gave me. I also simply enjoyed how much this book made me think.

So if you want a real thinker, give this book a try. But don't necessarily try to live by it.

Flatland

A Romance of Many Dimensions
Author: Edwin A. Abbott
Genre: science fiction?
Publication info: Oxford World's Classics, 2006 (originally published in 1884)
Pages: 124 (including notes)

I mentioned the Childcraft books in my last post. I don't know if those books are still around, but it is thanks to those books that I also heard about Flatland. I feel bad for people that grew up without Childcraft.

Anyway, I'd been meaning to read this book for a long time, having always been interested in math and especially in the theory of multiple dimensions. So I finally bought a copy of this book in Oxford during my trip to the British Isles last summer (I thought it would be fun to be able to say, "Yes, I bought that novel in Oxford. Would you like a digestive?"). And then, a few months after finally buying it, I finally read it.

As you might guess, Flatland is the story of a world of only two dimensions. How can a story about a two-dimensional world be "a romance of many dimensions," you ask? Good question. Basically it works by analogy. We are introduced to the narrator, A. Square, who gives us a detailed description of his world and how his society functions. This first part of the book is less of a math treatise and more of a social satire, but it's still pretty interesting.

But the second half of the book is where the good stuff starts. First A. Square has a vision of a place called Lineland, a world that exists entirely on—you guessed it—one line. A. Square wonders how anyone could live in such a world. But the one-dimensional people can't imagine anything better. Just as A. Square can't imagine anything beyond his two-dimensional world. Just as we three-dimensional beings can't imagine . . . See where this is going?

Well, after A. Square's vision of Lineland, he has an even more interesting experience: a visit from a sphere, a resident of Spaceland. This otherworldy being teaches our incredulous narrator about the nature of three dimensions. As this goes on, we begin to see what it might be like to live in four dimensions or more. It's really fun to think about, but it can also be pretty mind-blowing. Imagine the things we could do, the ways we could move and interact, the methods by which we could travel. It's great exercise for the mind.

But I also believe it's more than that. I think this vision of multi-dimensional worlds gives us a glimpse into the workings of God. If all things past, present, and future are before Him, then I think this is a sensible way to imagine that concept. Just as a three-dimensional being can survey a two-dimensional world all at once from above, I think God looks on our world in a very similar way. Just how many dimensions does God have? That's a matter of speculation. But I think this is one of the reasons God is incomprehensible to us. As it says in Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (55:8).

Just something to think about. That's why I loved Flatland so much: it really got me thinking.