A la Recherche d'une Livre Perdu - 18 November 2022

 My title today is only partially appropriate. I've actually just come across a tale I'd read in my youth (I know it was more than 50 years ago based on where I had read it) and realised why I was enjoying this collection of the stories of The Thinking Machine so thoroughly.

My maternal grandparents had a cottage on Rifle Lake in the southernmost part of what we'd call Up North here in Michigan. When the weather was less than encouraging of watery activities, I would take to the front room and read from the various books that lived there. Most were Reader's Digest condensed books, along with some actual Reader's Digest magazines, but Grandpa did have a remarkably thick book of great detective stories which was often my choice in these situations.

As I'm nearing the end of the aforementioned collection of Thinking Machine stories, I've come to "The Problem of Cell 13" - it's the one I remember as my first exposure to Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, aka the Thinking Machine. What great fun.

Oh, and the reason for today's title? Today is the centenary of the passing of Marcel Proust, author of "À la recherche du temps perdu," among other light writings.

Use Your Words! - 17 July 2021 - Plague Journal Day 492

Micah 6:8
Daniel 5  John 8:3-11
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?


I read recently that a survey of emoji users indicated that a significant majority of them think that using emojis at work is totally appropriate. (I thought of this because for some reason today is World Emoji Day.) I have long railed against the decline of the use of actual words in our society as we move to a post-literate world. (Does anyone think that would be a good thing?)

I mention that I've been against this for a long time simply to emphasize that it's not merely a getting-older-and-therefor-more-curmudgeonly kind of knee-jerk reaction. It's a more heartfelt knee-jerk reaction than that.
I have no doubt that you have heard parents telling their young children to "use your words" many times. I also have no doubt that you have never heard parents tell their children to "use your emojis." Are we going to go back to pictograms for everything? Will we lose the ability to read and write alphabetically? Will Bullwinkle ever be able to read fan mail from some flounder?

This isn't life or death stuff, but it's the next level down. Please - Use Your Words!

Given the terrible flooding going on in the greater Grosse Pointe Metroplex, I doubt I'll be able to celebrate Record Store Day here today, but I do want to acknowledge it. I miss being able to browse through the racks of records (even CDs, tapes, whatever format of recording you prefer) in an actual store, discovering - and buying! - music I might never otherwise have heard. Go shop at a record store if you can.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Stigmatized - 03 March 2021 - Plague Journal Day 356

Micah 6:8
Hebrews 9:27-10:2
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Oh dear. With all the banana cream pie nostalgia yesterday, I missed an important commemoration.

Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of the death of Philip K. Dick, one of the greatest sf authors of all time. Looking at a summary of his career made me realize that I have a lot of reading to do. He published 44 novels and well over 100 short stories - it appears that I have read but a small portion of his work.

Even if you haven't read any of his novels, you have probably seen at least one film based on his writings: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Screamers, Minority Report, Impostor, A Scanner Darkly, Next, Radio Free Albemuth, The Adjustment Bureau, and The Man in the High Castle to name a few.
If you haven't read any of his writing, I would recommend that you change that as soon as possible. Good options are "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (the source for Blade Runner), "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said," "UBIK," "Time out of Joint," and "The Man in the High Castle."
You'll find that the general theme of his writing is an exploration of the meaning of reality. What part of what we perceive is real? How many layers of fiction / deceit / illusion / misperception / etc. are there between us and reality? It sounds hard to follow, but he was such a skilled writer that, even when you're not sure what's going on, you'll enjoy the ride, and you'll come out the other end with more good questions than bad answers.

Highly recommended reading.

 

Given Dick's anti-totalitarian bent in his writing, I think he would have appreciated this image that I found somewhere:

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Face Palmer's - 02 March 2021 - Plague Journal Day 355

Micah 6:8
Leviticus 23:40-41
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?


Today is National Banana Cream Pie Day. I remember getting banana cream pie at the restaurant in the basement of Eastland shopping center (before it was even a full-on mall!). I also got coconut cream pie there. It was across the hallway from McDevitt's - a Catholic/Christian supply shop. (I'm struggling to remember the name of the restaurant.) It was right next to a set of escalators that were much narrower than the standard ones. I would ride up and down them with my feet off the steps by holding myself up with one hand on each moving rail. (Rats, I almost had the name again. Twice.) It was really just a little sandwich shop with standard diner desserts and such, but I remember it very clearly (apart from its name!). That and National Coney Island were the places at Eastland where we might get something if we were doing a big shopping trip. Coney Island was right near the Detroit Edison store where we could go get our burned out light bulbs exchanged for new, working ones - free of charge! Those were the days, eh?
To be honest, if we were going to be "fancy" while shopping, we might go up to the Hudson's restaurant for a Maurice Salad, but that was not a common thing for us. 

Aha! It took a lot of searching and reading through forum comments, but the place was called Palmer's!
All that because today is National Banana Cream Pie Day. That's what memories will do. I suppose that's why some people eat to forget, or however that goes.

Today is also Read Across America Day, which is also known as Dr. Seuss Day. How ironic that our bizarre, narcissistic cancel culture is busy trying to cancel the good doctor as we hit the day celebrating his achievements. I would recommend reading any and all of his books to anyone and everyone who will listen. (I guess I won't argue if you want to skip The Lorax. It reads as an aberrant screed, an artifact of its era, unlike his other, generally timeless books.) 

These are the books being canceled - I would suggest buying a copy just to make the point that this is insane:

• "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street"
• "If I Ran the Zoo"
• "McElligot's Pool"
• "On Beyond Zebra!"
• "Scrambled Eggs Super!"
• "The Cat's Quizzer"

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Mystic Pizza? - 09 February 2021 - Plague Journal Day 334

Micah 6:8
Hosea 5:6-7
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

  

Today is Extraterrestrial Culture Day (thanks to the New Mexico legisltature). Roswell! It's also Pizza Pie Day - I think I'm really happy that it's not just Pizza day, but the more formal Pizza Pie Day. Then, to complete the trifecta, it's also Read In The Bathtub Day.

(I'm pretty sure he's ordering a pizza!)

Of course there's a song about this!

It seems to me that today would be a great day to read a book about alien cultures while eating pizza in the tub. What to read? "Alien Art" by Gordon R. Dickson? "Dune" by Frank Herbert? "The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn" by Algis Budrys? "The High Crusade" by Poul Anderson? "Bytes Akimbo" by yours truly?

I'd love to see some suggestions in the comments.

Political/Constitutional aside: democrats are using the "shall" language of the Constitution to justify this second Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Interestingly, the line says that "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments." It doesn't say that the Senate shall try all Impeachments - simply that it is the only body that has the power to do so. If an impeachment comes from the House to the Senate, the Senate has no obligation to try it, and should the Senate decline, there is no other body able to do so.
If what Trump did was actually inciting to insurrection, that's a crime and should be tried in criminal court, not in the Senate.
Further, conviction in an impeachment trial by the Senate removes a civil Officer from office. Following that removal, the Senate can vote to disqualify that convicted Officer from holding office. If the disqualificatyion vote can only after removing said Officer from office, it's unclear how they'll remove a former office-holder from the office he no longer holds before they vote to disqualify him. Frankly, I don't think they care, they just hate and fear him that much.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

No End of Writing - 02 January 2021 - Plague Journal Day 296

Micah 6:8
Ecclesiastes 12:12
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

It's shameless self-promotion time here at the Grand Teuton blog, folks. I know I do that every now and then, but this is now and that was then. At any rate, since today is National Science Fiction Day (!), it's only appropriate to plug my spectacular science fiction novel, Bytes Akimbo - Cybersleuth. (I told you it was shameless. In case you were wondering, the full title is actually "Bytes Akimbo - Cybersleuth: Being a Zany, Madcap Romp from Here to There, and Beyond!")

You can find the full range of my published writings on my author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/cvb

There you'll find another novel, A Rune With A View, that's not really science fiction, but has some of the same feel. It's more of a Christian fantasy novel somewhat in the direction of the novels of Charles Williams.

Further, if you're interested in writing your own science fiction, why not check out my book of writing prompts and exercises, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? That might be just the thing to get you going - or get you to done. (The full title is "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday …: 13 Weeks of Writing Exercises So You’ll Finish What You Start") This book and my Bible study are only available in paperback at this point, but all the others are in Kindle versions as well, so take your choice.

Because Reading is Fun(damental)!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Big Bird and Books - 10 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 243

Micah 6:8
Luke 4:16-22
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Here's a pair of celebrations for you: today is both Sesame Street Day and National Young Readers Day. 

How ironic, since Sesame Street has probably done more to push children away from books than anything else in American "culture" in the past fifty years or so. With its emphasis on very short bits, rewarding and reinforcing very short attention spans, the show's format militates against anything so slow as reading a book - even a book featuring Grover or Elmo can't move fast enough for a fast-cut-addicted tyke.
Perhaps we should promote books as a random access entertainment format - no need to fast forward, just turn directly to the page you want!
It's very distressing, as the inability to stick with even a short book indicates the inability to follow even a short explanation or argument, which further indicates an inability to think and to function as a citizen of these United States. It's no wonder it seems the electorate is asking to be taken care of. 

Save the nation - read a book!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

28 September 2020 - Plague Journal Day 199

Micah 6:8
Romans 14:12-14
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

A quick mostly-non-political question for your consideration:
It seems that we're all desperately worried that the huge volume of absentee votes will overwhelm the mostly volunteer cadre of folks who have to count them. I think that's a realistic worry, and it seems to me that it would go a long way toward preventing any problems if those of us who don't actually have to vote absentee would simply vote in person. If you can go to Kroger, you can go to the polls. You know they're going to be enforcing masks and distancing as well as they can, so if you can, please vote in person.
The vote you cast may be your own.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled blog:

Today is Read A Child A Book You Like Day. That sounds like a hoot, really. I mean, almost all of us have at least one book they remember fondly from childhood. Why not find a copy of that book, find a child, and give this day a go? It's interesting, because I was just thinking of what to read next, and thought I might pull out The Wind in the Willows. I haven't read it in ages, but it's one of those books that works regardless of the reader's age. What's your book you'd like to read to a child?

Oh, and today is also National Drink Beer Day, so on top of that,you could drink a beer while reading to a child. That sounds like a prescription for things to go very right in an interesting way, no? Try doing voices for each character - and see if the child catches you when you use the wrong voice for one of them.

This should be fun!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

21 September 2020 - Plague Journal Day 192

Micah 6:8
Genesis 41:39-45
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is the 83rd anniversary of the first publication of JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit." It's a fun book to read, and doesn't take nearly as long to read as it does to watch the bloated trilogy that was created from the book (along with extra story lines to help fill the extra time), and who knows? you may even discover parts the movies missed.
I highly recommend reading the book if you have a chance (and I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find).

A quick closing political aside: Early voting. That sounds like a convenience, but is it? Suppose something happens after your early vote to make you want to change your mind. That shouldn't be inconceivable, right? I mean, if there's nothing that can make you change your mind, you probably are just voting out of reflex rather than reflection.
Voting before the candidates even meet for a debate? That sounds downright insane. Please think before you vote, and vote responsibly.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

30 July 2020 - Plague Journal Day 140

Micah 6:8
Esther 6:1-3
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Paperback Book Day! Hooray!

If you're wondering how to celebrate, you could always go buy a paperback book and read it (or buy a bunch and read them, or give them away as gifts). Here's a great place to get some books.

In addition to those literary festivities, it's also National Chili Dog Day today. What could be better than to grab your paperback book (you did visit amazon.com/author/cvb didn't you?) and head over to National Coney Island for a few coneys? (OK, if you can make it to Lafayette, that's even better.)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

Reading Really Is Fundamental

Yes, I know I neglected to capitalize the U and the N, but that's because I really want to make the point that it's more than fun, it really is fundamental to education and thinking in general.

I received this email in the last few days from the Trinity Forum on the subject, and it really does capture a lot of my thinking on the subject.

Sure, I'm hoping you all read my blog posts, but I'd much rather you read my books, or even some real classics. Go grab a book that's long, and that will make you work at it a bit. See if you can stretch your attention span (even better, stretch your concentration span!) to what they were pre-Sesame Street.

Need some suggestions? Watch this space in the next few days; I'll be compiling my suggested reading lists from past posts, and I'll put them here, along with some comments as to why they might deserve your time and attention.

Cheers,
Charlie

Kindles, Books, and Reading in General

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

First off, let me disclose that I haven't actually taken the plunge into ebooks, ibooks, epubs, and the like so far.
I really like having a book in my hands when I read, and being able to leave different books in different places where each will be read in turn.

In my best "why would I ever want that instead of the way I already know how to do it," mode, I largely dismissed the Kindle and its ilk. This past Christmas, I did do some investigating, mostly as a means to make sure the gifts being contemplated were not unreasonable - they weren't.

There are now three Kindles in the family, and as far as I can tell, there is so much more reading going on now than there had been - and more than I would ever have guessed - that my pseudo-Luddite recalcitrance has been shaken and my interest stirred.

When my son says he's trying to figure out what to read next when he finishes the last of a series of books he's been reading; and that he's wondering whether to go to something new, or to reread the Iliad or the Odyssey, well, the world's turned upside down, and time is out of joint, or something.

I said - aloud, not just to myself - that with all that reading going on, I might have to change my opinion on this whole Kindle thing, and I may be doing exactly that.

Yes, I may be doing exactly that, but I'd appreciate feedback from folks with experience with these devices. What do you love? What do you hate? Et cetera? Kindle? Nook? Kobo? Sony?

What to Read Right Now

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Sorry I'm late with this recommendation, but (in case you're like me and don't watch the calendar as well as you ought) it's December, and it's also Advent.

So, I want to recommend that you all go out and get a copy of The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder.  It's a wonderful book to read leading up to Christmas - we get to watch as Joachim opens his special Advent Calendar each day, and receives an update on the story of a little girl, a lamb, some angels, wise men, kings, oh, the whole nine yards and more.

It's a fun read with relatively short chapters for each day from December first right down through Christmas Eve.  Highly recommended.

To Bethlehem!  To Bethlehem!

Which e-Reader for Christmas?

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

This seems to be the year of the e-Reader.  While I'm still a confirmed paper addict, the newest generation of e-Readers is getting close to changing my mind.
I've been reading e-books on my PC and on my Palm (don't laugh) for years now, so I do have some experience with ebooks, but I've never really considered them a good substitute for the real thing.  Still, with some books coming out only as ebooks (also those that are out of print or the stuff at the Gutenberg project), these readers are becoming more valuable, even as their prices decline.  So, here are some of my thoughts on the current options:

• Kindle has done the most to popularise the category, largely based on Amazon's being the largest single bookseller in the world.  They have done almost everything right with this, from making it very easy to buy books, to updating the hardware regularly and significantly.
• Sony, Nook, and Kobo seem to be the next level of players, mostly because of the bookstore advantage which Amazon has - even over Border's and Barnes & Noble.  Still, their hardware is basically on a par with the Kindle line.
• Apple's iPad seems like a reasonable alternative - even sporting a Kindle app - but while it can read lots of ebook formats, the battery life and the reading experience using a backlit LCD panel is a bit sub-optimal.
• WiFi and USB are more than adequate for getting books into a reader - 3G is probably nice, but shopping on your Kindle seems a lot less convenient than shopping on your PC, which means you can order there and either WiFi it in or USB it in.

So, what's my recommendation for your Christmas shopping this year?
I'd go with the latest Kindle WiFi version.  It has a 6" screen (nice e-ink for reading anywhere paper would have worked), can store more books than my living room shelves (at least I think so, I'll have to count them up when I get home), and has battery life to spare.

If you feel the need for 3G, it's only $50, but I'd rather spend that on some books or a case and light.

There you have it - Enjoy!

Won't Someone Think Of The Children?!

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Perhaps it's something to do with the programmes I watch, but I've seen far too many of the commercials for a "teach your infant to read" system in the past several months.  Heidi will attest that I can hardly stop myself decrying the pernicious influence this method would have, were it widely adopted.  My basic question is, "When did our writing become logographic?" (Apparently logographic is now the preferred term for the now-disparaged ideographic.)

Memorising full words before having learned the sounds represented by the alphabet simply makes no sense.  Some writing systems (e.g. Chinese) are logographic, that is the units of writing (individual logograms) represent words or concepts [yes I know, sometimes sounds as well], while others (e.g. English) are alphabetical where the units of writing (letters) represent sounds.  In either system, its basic units are combined to represent words.
I will grant you that our current pronunciations often don't match well with the spelling (after all, orthography was mostly set long ago, while pronunciations continued to change with little regard for how the literate folks were spelling things), but without a solid grounding in the sounds of letters and combinations of letters, every new word becomes an exercise in frustration.  I frankly can't imagine wanting to read much of anything under those terms.

Oh, and folks who've learned to read in this sight/sound/meaning system (which reminds me of parts of the whole language system we were told to embrace some years ago) actually don't want to read much.
Still, there is only one criterion for judging a solution to a problem these days - it must be new.  It really doesn't matter if we've moved from something that worked to something that doesn't, going back to the (dare I say correct?) method isn't to be considered.  "Don't you have any new ideas to contribute?  Can't you say anything but no?"

Why can't they be Hooked on Phonics?  Bloody dolts are going to destroy a generation's reading abilities.
grr.

Reading Styles

Just wondering: am I very different from other people in that I tend to read several books at the same time?
When I've discussed this with other folks, the main objection I hear is that it would be impossible to keep track of what's going on in each book if one is reading more than one.
That seems to me to be an empty objection: how many TV series does the typical viewer follow these days? Certainly there's no lack of ability to keep track of which character belongs on which program and is doing what to or with whom. Why would reading be different?

At any rate, I'd be curious to know how many others read more than one book at a time, and how many books you're reading right now.

Thanks.