Book Review: Julian Comstock

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson

With Julian Comstock, Robert Charles Wilson has created a world in which oil has dried up and civilization as it was known is no longer. The peoples of the world have devolved to an eighteenth-century way of living, complete with social norms. This new society has been built on the graves of the past, literally. The title character is the nephew of the current President, sent into exile for his own safety. But then the war finds him, and safety is no longer a possibility.

First off, there was absolutely fantastic world-building. The world which Wilson creates is vivid, raw, and very much probable. It could, in fact, be our world in a century or two. The narrator, Julian's common-born best friend, speaks of the time of Efflorescence of Oil when the Secular Ancients lived, and considers it an era of gross consumption and moral degeneration.

The story revolves around Julian's rise to power, almost comical in its accidentalness. And peppered throughout is some subtle (and not so subtle) commentary on social inequality, religious monopoly, creativity and censorship, learning, the hazards of fashion, and questioning the status quo.

I was not myself very enamored with the book, but from the accolades and awards the book has garnered, I appear to be in the minority. I did love the glimpses into this brave new world Wilson has created, and for that alone it is worth a read. If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction or military fiction, this is right up your alley.

"The territory through which we passed had been overbuilt in the days over the Secular Ancients, but only a few traces of that exuberant time remained, and a whole forest had grown up since then, maple and birch and pine, its woody roots no doubt entwined with artifacts from the Efflorescence of Oil and with the bones of the artifacts' owners. What is the modern world, Julian once asked, but a vast Cemetery, reclaimed by nature? Every step we took reverberated in the skulls of our ancestors, and I felt as if there were centuries rather than soil beneath my feet."

Re-Reading is Good for the Soul

I have been discovering a lot of new authors lately but there are always those books I turn to when I need a quick pick-me-up or I'm in a reading slump or I just want to revisit with old friends. There is nothing quite like re-reading an old favorite, whether it's been months or years since the last time. For me, my comfort reads tend to fall into the science fiction or fantasy genres, which really is no surprise. Those were the books I read almost exclusively during my formative years.

A friend of mine is so busy at the moment that he is only reading new books. I think he's missing out.

We're human. We forget things. If it has been years since I last read a book, I can guarantee you that I will remember practically nothing about it other than if I liked it or not. In a way, it is almost like reading a new book, but not quite. You get deja vu as you turn the pages, and laugh in the same places you laughed before, and cry in the same places you cried before, and at the very end, you are still cheering for the main characters as they ride off into the sunset for their happily ever after.

Or, you get the shock that the book just isn't as good as you remember it. Which happens. Tastes change, we get more sophisticated in our language usage, or just expect more in a book than we did before. I, for one, have become utterly spoiled by Lois McMaster Bujold. Because of her, I now demand consistent characterization, realistic character development, a multi-layered but realistic plot, and well-written language. (I know, right? So demanding!)

I grew up on Nancy Drew. I devoured them, sometimes more than one in a span of a day. A while back, I picked up one of the classic Nancy Drew books, one of the one with the yellow covers, and tried to read it. I just couldn't. The writing was simplistic, the dialogue was painful in places, and I could not suspend my disbelief enough to ignore the first two.

But those are few and far between. I've found that generally, even if I've outgrown an author, I don't outgrow the books I have already read.

Whenever I go through a reading funk (and it happens more often than I would like), whether it's because I just don't have as much time at the moment to read, I don't find any particular book on my to-be-read list interesting enough to pick up, or I've gone through X number of not-so-great books, I find myself returning to old favorites. These are books that blew me away the first time I read them, that I connected to in some way, or played a role in the person I am today.

When I was in middle school, one of those books was The Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George. I read the library's copy repeatedly and I probably would have read it to pieces if it had been in paperback. Some others that I still find myself revisitng are:

• Jackaroo by Cynthia Voight: I swear this was the book that began my lifelong obsession with outlaws.
  
• The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley: This book focused my outlaw obsession on Robin Hood
  
• The Lark and Wren by Mercedes Lackey: Long after I've outgrown this author, I still find myself re-reading this book every year or two.

Oddly enough, I don't find myself re-reading books that I first discovered as an adult, no matter how much I love them. Maybe I just haven't found that one special book yet.

Does anyone want to share their favorite re-reads?

Book Review: Why Evolution is True

Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne

Book description: What is evolution? What proof is there that it exists? Jerry Coyne answers those questions in a very accessible and interesting way. He explains exactly what evolution is (and isn't), and then provides specific examples of proof that evolution exists.

Eighty-three years have passed since Scopes v. State, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. John Scopes, a high school science teacher, was found guilty of teaching evolution. However, due to a technicality on appeal, he was never actually punished.

But surely we have moved beyond that, right? Coyne's book starts out with some personal reflections on Kitzmiller et al. vs. Dover Area School District et al: a modern day Scopes monkey trial in which the Dover, PA school district board passed a resolution requiring biology teachers to read a short statement offering intelligent design as an alternative theory to evolution. Some outraged parents sued, and thankfully, the judge ruled in their favor. That case was in 2005.

In 2009, band members of Smith-Cotton High School (Sedalia, MO) were forced to return tee-shirts that were promoting their fall program because the shirts depicted the evolution of man. (The theme of the program was "Brass Evolution".)

Obviously, evolution is still a contentious issue. Creationism has been renamed "intelligent design" and is still being pushed to be offered as an "alternative" in parts of the country. In his book, Coyne does an admirable job in not only defending evolution but, by implication, exposing intelligent design's lack of foundation.

He begins by explaining that a scientific theory is much stronger and unimpeachable than laymen consider a theory. The "theory" of evolution is commonly accepted in the scientific community as scientific fact. There has been no evidence to contradict it, despite creationists assertions to the contrary (he also debunks a number of those in his book). And he points to evidence that not only did the planet and all plants and animals on it evolved, but that humans did as well.

I find evolution absolutely fascinating, and I am constantly amazed when I run into someone who turns a blind eye to all the evidence that it happened and that it's still happening today. I love learning how different species evolved in a community and formed relationships with other species (predator-prey, symbiotes, etc.), and within species.

Evolution has always been wrapped up in my head with the environment thanks to my college course "Ecology & Evolution" - but it does make sense. If you're learning about ecology, learning about how said ecology came about can be extremely enlightening in understanding why things are they way they are.

Just call me an evolution fangirl.

Book Review: Bird Flu

Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching by Michael Greger, M.D.

Book description: Dr. Michael Greger walks the reader through the history of avian flu and its implications for us today. The threat of avian flu can be directly linked to industrialized animal agriculture which weakens the animals' immune systems, and threatens our own health.

If you are not scared shitless at the thought of a pandemic flu, you're not paying attention. While the focus has shifted from avian to swine flu, the information in this book is no less relevant. Birds, pigs, and humans form a close-knit disease vector triangle. It is strongly suspected that the 1918 influenza epidemic was an avian flu that made the leap to humans through domesticated pigs.

Human domestication of animals has had enormous benefits throughout history. Unfortunately, it also has its downsides. As humans and the animals they domesticated lived together, their immune systems became intricately linked and disease transmission became easier. Viruses by their very nature can mutate very fast. Thankfully, the avian influenza virus has not developed the mutation necessary to cause human-to-human transmission.

However, I have heard a number of epidemiologists say it is only a matter of time.

Dr. Greger lays out how intensification of animal agriculture has exacerbated the threat. By moving towards confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), animals are placed in closed proximity to each other and have suppressed immune systems due to high stress levels and poor living conditions. He argues that when the flu pandemic comes, it will be due to Western agricultural methods. He makes a very convincing case -- even after I learned he works for PETA. But Bird Flu is meticulously researched and I've read other articles and books about influenza that back up what he says.

Just because he may have an axe to grind, that does not make Greger's thesis any less true.

But you be the judge. Read it for yourself -- the entire book, including endnotes, is available online for free.

Read an eBook Week

March 8-14, 2009 is Read an E-Book Week. There is something to be said for the feel of a physical book in your hands. I love the smell of books and that is, unfortunately, something that no ereader has been able to replicate. But I discovered the great world of ebooks years ago and found, interestingly enough, I like them.

I am the very satisfied owner of a Sony Reader which perpetually lives in my bag and at any one time holds 300+ short stories, novellas, novels, and non-fiction books. In my mind, the Reader has more than paid for itself by allowing me to start another book immediately after finishing one on my train ride to work.

Ebooks also have a much lower carbon footprint than a traditional dead-tree version. A paperback book uses energy to produce the raw materials needed to print the book (paper, ink, glue), and then the actual energy used to assemble the book. Then there is the energy used to transport the books to the store, the energy the consumer uses to drive to the store and back, and if the books are not sold, the energy to send them back to the publisher to be pulped. The necessary energy increases with a hardcover book. An ebook, however, saves the vast majority of all that. Yes, it uses electricity - you need it to read the darn thing! - but I can order it at home, download it, and start reading immediately. An ebook cuts out raw materials, production, and transportation.

Ebooks are still very much a niche market but a growing one. More publishers are experimenting with electronic books and many authors have used the medium to publicize themselves, sometimes giving away free copies of their books in electronic format.

Read and E-Book Week is a great way for readers to experiment with ebooks themselves. There are number of websites that have collections of ebooks available for public consumption free. The most famous of these is Project Gutenberg, which is a collection of public domain books. But if you aren't interested in classics, there are also ManyBooks and Feedbooks which house both public domain books and contemporary books published under a Creative Commons License.

While not everyone will be a convert, how will you know if you like ebooks or not if you never try?

Book Review: Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food by Gene Baur

Book description: Leading animal rights activist Gene Baur examines the real cost of the meat on our plates -- for both humans and animals alike -- in this provocative and thorough examination of the modern farm industry.

Baur has written a book that is part memoir and part exposé of the factory farm system's treatment of animals. It is short but packs a lot in. Not unexpectedly, the author has frequent forays into "preachiness" which if you are not of a like mind can get tiring. (To be honest, it can get tiring even if you are.) Unfortunately, I doubt that many who are not like-minded will ever read this book.

Full disclosure: I am a vegetarian. I am not a vegan. While this book made me carefully consider veganism, in the end I decided against it but vowed to buy my eggs and dairy carefully to minimize my support of factory farms.

Confined animal feedlot operations (CAFOs) are one of the truly despicable inventions of the industrialized agricultural system. It is absolutely appalling and the fact that the USDA not only subsidizes it but encourages it infuriates me. Animals are sentient beings. They feel pain, fear, loneliness, and anger as well as happiness. Anyone who has ever owned a pet can tell you that. Yet, for some reason, because these animals are used for food they do not deserve the basic dignities that should be their right.

Treat a dog or a horse the way pigs are treated and the Humane Society is called. Yet here are billions of animals who give their lives so that we may eat in the manner we want and we treat them not with respect, but without thinking at all. Humans have become so far removed from the food supply chain that it is very hard to connect what is on our plates to what occurs on the farm. The idyllic picture of the family farm, cows peacefully grazing in the field next to the vegetable garden, is unfortunately no longer the norm. Through careful advertising, though, largescale agriculture tries to perpetuate that image.

It has been said that if slaughterhouses were made of glass most people would stop eating meat. But due to the high security around such places (and other aspects of CAFOs) most will never see how the cows that became that hamburger died. My coworker had the misfortune to wander onto the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. She is now a vegetarian.

Why did I decide to not go vegan? I have known what occurs in CAFOs and in slaughterhouses for a long time. Nothing in this book shocked me, though it did touch me. I did not become vegetarian for moral reasons. I have no problems with killing invasive species that are damaging the environment. I do have a problem with the way we treat animals in this society. If every farm in the country was Polyface Farm, I might even eat meat again, but unfortunately they are not. There were some American Indian tribes that thanked the spirits of animals before they were killed because the animals gave their lives so the people could live. Perhaps we should return to that mentality. The sheer waste that occurs in industrial agriculture should make every environmentalist outraged -- not least, the waste in lives that are thrown away as acceptable losses to the system, and never even make it into the food supply.

Book Review: Stirring It Up

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World by Gary Hirsberg

Book description: Gary Hirsberg is the founder and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, a company that proved it was profitable to operate sustainably. Hirsberg outlines his own journey in Stirring it Up and highlights other success stories, from Wal-mart to Patagonia, of companies who have embraced a sustainable product, production supply chain, work environment, and culture -- and made it profitable.

I scoffed when I reached the section where Hirsberg points to Wal-mart, the most hated of retail giants, as an example of a company that was working to "save the world." It took me a while to reconcile my view of Wal-mart -- the blight upon rural America and destroyer of the small mom-and-pop stores -- with the Wal-mart Hirsberg described. I had to remind myself there were two sides to every coin. I still find it very hard to believe that Wal-mart's journey to being green was motivated by anything other than . . . well, green, as in money.

And it is true -- being green can save you money. It goes back to the three 'R's of environmentalism we memorized all those years ago. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Those were the tenents of the do-it-yourself environmentalism. Unfortunately, the first two seem to have been forgotten. They were unpopular in that they reminded us of the need to change our gluttonous and spoiled lifestyles. But, as Hirsberg showed with examples throughout his book, reduce and reuse can sure conserve more than just raw materials. For a business, the bottom line is hugely important.

While I am a believer in green business, I doubt it can save the world because it ignores one of the root causes of most if not all environmental problems: consumption. Green business is still firmly rooted in the capitalist framework and in the free market economy. The belief that the free market can fix everything is somewhat of a sacred cow in the United States. I agree that the market is a very powerful entity but do not think it is the answer for all the ills in the world, mainly because the free market without government intervention will most likely not take into account the externalities into the price of the product. And the free market is still based on consumption. Whenever we buy something from the store, we are directly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and landfill waste. Buying "green" should also mean buying less, and reusing what you can (either yourself and giving to others) in addition to recycling.

Still, overall, a great thumbs-up to Hirsberg and other green business entrepreneurs out there.