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Community News for Lyme and Old Lyme, CT

Reading Uncertainly

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Identity’ by Francis Fukuyama

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Stanford University’s Francis Fukuyama always challenges our minds. From his The End of History and the Last Man, addressing our futures after the end of the Cold War (1992), and continuing with The Origins of Political Order (2011) and Political Order and Political Decay (2014), two monster 600+ page tomes, his newest, and briefest (a slim 183 pager!) is Identity. Who on … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Identity’ by Francis Fukuyama

Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Soul of America’ by Jon Meacham

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This is an engrossing reflection on past American leaders, elected and publicly acknowledged, and how they have shaped our peculiar, yet resilient, form of governance. Meacham leads us in a thorough review of our history: early (and conflicted) visions, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, its aftermath (Reconstruction, the Klu Klux Klan), Teddy Roosevelt, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘The Soul of America’ by Jon Meacham

Reading Uncertainly?  ‘Doing Justice’ by Preet Bharara

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This is an entrancing, literate, and thought-provoking review of the experiences of the former U. S Attorney for the fabled Southern District of New York, now on the faculty of the NYU School of Law.  “Justice is a broad and hazy subject”, he writes. “It is one of the most elusive and debatable concepts known to mankind, and disagreements over its meaning have spawned … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly?  ‘Doing Justice’ by Preet Bharara

Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Sense of Style’ by Steven Pinker

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Every day we use words to communicate, in voice, letters, emails, reports, and even tweets. But do others really understand us? Perhaps it is time to refresh our use of the English language. Steven Pinker, a renowned Harvard professor and author, suggests “the effective use of words to engage the human mind” (my italics), in his latest book. “Style still matters,” he argues. … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Sense of Style’ by Steven Pinker

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Elastic’ by Leonard Mlodinow

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This author writes, “ Today we consume, on average, a staggering 100,000 words of new information each day from various media, . . . a tidal wave of data . . . an unprecedented torrent of chaos . . . . “ It is his exploration of how human minds work when confronted with incessant and confusing change. He challenges us to consider new ways of thinking, ways to use our brains, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Elastic’ by Leonard Mlodinow

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari

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“I’m not trying to predict the future,” Yuval Harari argued in an Edge (an international group of the curious – see www.edge.org) discussion with Daniel Kahneman (March 5, 2015). “I’m trying to identify the horizon of possibilities that we are facing.” Professor Harari, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an Oxford PhD, wrote this incredibly imaginative alternate view of … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Why Homer Matters’ by Adam Nicolson

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Our son, a teacher of English and a sailor, recommended this new study of the Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. I had read them in the Robert Fagles translations, the first in 1996, the second a year later. Nicolson’s learned and lyrical commentary brings these 4,000-year-old stories into a fresh perspective of how memory, epic and history are important to us. He … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Why Homer Matters’ by Adam Nicolson

Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World’ by Maya Jasanoff

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Having read all of Patrick O’Brian, plus his biography (see LymeLine, Feb. 22, 2018), and having read most of that other great author of sea stories in the 20th Century, Joseph Conrad, it was only natural to launch into this latest study of him by Harvard’s Maya Jasanoff. Josef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was as compulsive a reader as O’Brian, but this Pole added global travel … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World’ by Maya Jasanoff

Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Fifth Risk’ by Michael Lewis

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Is our government too bloated, too intrusive, too expensive? Is it a “swamp” that needs to be drained if we are to survive? Michael Lewis, the author of such jewels as Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short, Flash Boys (see my review of 12/15/2014) and The Undoing Project (see my review of 1/22/2018), has been stimulated by the election of Donald … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Fifth Risk’ by Michael Lewis

Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid

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How would you respond to a bearded gentleman greeting you in Lahore, Pakistan, with these words: “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance?” Followed by these, “Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something, more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Essays After Eighty’ & ‘A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety’ by Donald Hall

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“I teeter when I walk, I no longer drive, I look out the windows ... My circles narrow. Each season my balance gets worse, and I sometimes fall. My fingers are clumsy and slow with buttons. I have problems with memory, sure, but it’s short-term memory ... My summer nights are NESN and the Boston Red Sox. I enjoy multiple naps.”  So did the New Hampshire poet Donald Hall define … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Essays After Eighty’ & ‘A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety’ by Donald Hall

Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Origins of Creativity’ by Edward O. Wilson

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I will admit, right at the start, that I am an admirer of Edward O. Wilson, the Harvard biologist and professor emeritus. I’ve read and been stimulated by many of his earlier works: Half-Earth (2016), The Meaning of Human Existence (2014), The Social Conquest of Earth (2012), and Anthill (2010). So too with this most recent work. It is a paean to the humanities and science, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘The Origins of Creativity’ by Edward O. Wilson

Reading Uncertainly? ‘Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process’ by John McPhee

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“Hunt through your mind for a good beginning. Then write it. Write a lead.”  There, I found it ... As a semi-intoxicated reader of most of John McPhee’s 32 books, I launched into these eight mesmerizing essays on the art (and work) of writing as soon as they were published late last year. McPhee, a Princeton graduate (1953), a lecturer and writing advisor at the University, … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? ‘Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process’ by John McPhee

Reading Uncertainly? “Et Cetera, Et Cetera” by Lewis Thomas,

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Awhile back, a conversation at Ashlawn Coffee in Old Saybrook brought up the word “blight,” in connection with a new committee in Old Lyme. What, indeed, is “blight”? Is one person’s “ugly condition” possibly a delight for someone else? That brought up the word “Blighty,” a word referring to England, possibly from Urdu and no connection whatsoever with the word “blight.” So … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly? “Et Cetera, Et Cetera” by Lewis Thomas,

Reading Uncertainly: ‘Writing to Learn’ by William Zinsser

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Almost 30 years ago my wife bought and read William Zinsser’s Writing to Learn, with a copy autographed by the author.  It has taken all that time for me to find and read this perceptive and challenging work. Late, but perhaps not too late! The key lies in the title: this is not a “how to” book but rather an encouragement to write, and write, and then write some more, as the … [Read more...] about Reading Uncertainly: ‘Writing to Learn’ by William Zinsser