Reading List by Jayne – Eclectic Non-Fiction Edition
The Far Edges of the Known World by Owen Rees
A revisionist history of the ancient world that shifts our focus from Athens and Rome to the long-ignored societies on the borders.
In The Far Edges of the Known World, ancient historian Owen Rees draws on archaeological excavations to reveal these so-called borders as thriving multicultural spaces. This is where the boundaries of “civilized” and “barbarian” began to dissipate; where traditional rules didn’t always apply; where different cultures intermarried; and where nomadic tribes built their own cities. Transporting readers through historical spheres of influence, Rees journeys from the sandy caravan routes of Morocco to the freezing winters of the northern Black Sea, from the Red River valley of Vietnam to the rain-lashed forts south of Hadrian’s Wall. Beyond well-remembered figures like Cleopatra and Caesar, Rees introduces us to the everyday people who called the borderlands home. We meet an enterprising sex worker in Egypt’s Naucratis, gambling soldiers at Hadrian’s Wall in England, a Greco-Buddhist monk hailing from the Ganges, and more. As Rees shows, exchanges of trends, ideas, even religious practices were happening all over the world.
The Far Edges of the Known World offers us a vibrant new lens to see and understand the ancient world.
Review
I asked to review this book because I wanted to know more about other ancient civilizations beyond the usual Mediterranean/Eurocentric ones covered in history classes that focus on Greece/Rome/Egypt. Rees, who specializes in ancient militaries and soldiers, is a good writer – neither too academic nor too basic – and I did learn a lot about cities and people I had never heard about before such as Volubilis and Olbia.
Yet I felt slightly disappointed. I wanted to know what these people thought about themselves but for a lot of the book, what we’re told is from the viewpoint of the Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians. I get that for some of these populations, the only written records of them we have is from the dominant cultures but still, I was hoping for their own words. For the poor people who lived in or near Bilsk (in modern Ukraine), we have neither information from outsiders or from them as they had no written language, so everything is speculation.
And for some of the cities/cultures that did have their own writing and records – Taxila or Co Loa – what is presented is a very brief overview of complicated history. It’s probably not enough for a specialist to be interested in nor is it really enough for someone who sadly knows little about the cultures and people being discussed. So the idea is great, the writing is accessible, the scholarship appears to be well done (or at least there are a ton of footnotes and over 70 pages listing the source material) but still left me feeling empty and wanting more. C
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Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats by Ursula K. Le Guin
THE PURR-FECT GIFT FOR CAT LOVERS: Discover the literary legend’s quirky and winsome cat poems, meditations, and drawings
Includes the hard-to-find The Art of Bunditsu, plus 30+ other delights from a lifetime of reflection on the mystery and magic of cats
“The presence of a cat keeps me in touch with the mystery, the unreasonableness, the beauty, the stubborn wildness of the nonhuman world.” In her life as in her art, Ursula K. Le Guin was fascinated by the feline. This irresistible book about cats gathers poems, meditations, and drawings dedicated to the complicated creature that captured her imagination. Here are:
The Art of Bunditsu, Le Guin’s hard-to-find “tabbist” meditation on the arranging of cats26 cat poems, many illustrated by Le Guin herselfThe Historic First Issue! of Le Guin’s one-of-a-kind cat comic book, Supermouse Comix!Cat Correspondence: letters between Le Guin’s cat and those of her daughter detailing the Five Deliberations that cats spend their lives studyingCat Tai Chi, as depicted in a charming series of drawings
A first-of-its-kind collection from a science fiction legend, this delightful purr-purri is a gift for cat lovers and Le Guin fans!
Review
This is a cute, slim – with emphasis on slim – volume of just what the blurb says. There are poems, drawings, and letters scattered together – chronologically?, and followed by a list of Le Guin’s cats over her lifetime. Many, it seems, lived short lives telling me we have much to be thankful for in the progress of veterinary medicine. The book is definitely more for cat lovers than, necessarily, lovers of Le Guin’s writing. B-
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Do Aliens Speak Physics? by Daniel Whiteson
A hilarious, mind-bending investigation into how much humans and aliens might have in common, scientifically speaking—from a best-selling cartoonist and acclaimed physicist.
When the long-awaited day dawns and the aliens finally arrive on Earth, they might eat us and destroy the planet—or, just maybe, they might share the secrets of the Universe with us. When that time comes, will we be able to cross the communication barrier to beg for our lives? If the aliens do hold out those precious jewels of knowledge, will we even be able to grasp them?
It’s long been assumed, in both science fiction and real scientific efforts to communicate with hypothetical aliens, that math and physics could serve as a universal language connecting us with extraterrestrial minds. But as humanity draws ever closer to the possibility of an interplanetary future and expands its agelong search for alien life and intelligence, beloved author and physicist Daniel Whiteson and best-selling cartoonist Andy Warner wonder if we should be so sure. In Do Aliens Speak Physics?, they take readers on a wild adventure to the edges of space-time, science, and the imagination to investigate whether an alien–human mind meld could ever be achieved.
Deploying cutting-edge physics, deep philosophical insight, and plenty of cartoons, Whiteson and Warner explode what we thought we knew about talking to our cosmic neighbors—and even science itself—by asking and answering questions both lighthearted and profound. Would aliens even need science to build the technology that brings them to Earth? Is it possible that they could experience the Universe very differently from us—tasting electrons and smelling photons? Would the extraterrestrials have to perceive “electrons” and “photons” at all, or are these particles only convenient concepts for our human minds? At bottom, does physics reveal fundamental truths about the Universe, as we so often believe, or might it in fact tell us more about ourselves?
As ultimately mind-altering as it is hilarious, Do Aliens Speak Physics? will leave you with a view of the Universe—and humanity—that’s stranger and more marvelous than before.
CW/TW – here be discussions about stuff like math
Is our physics a mirror reflecting an objective truth about the Universe, or is it a lens deeply colored by our humanity?
Review
So if an alien spaceship ever zips into our solar system, touches down somewhere on our planet, and pops the hatch to reveal actual aliens, will we be able to talk with them? Yeah, sure with things like physics and math (and which of these came first?), right? Because these are the same everywhere. Universal truths. Or are they? To go along with Drake’s equation to calculate how many possible alien civilizations we could communicate with, Whiteson has developed one using the end result of that equation and adding such factors as – is experimental Science universal? Can we actually communicate with them? Are aliens interested in the questions that we are trying to solve and do their senses perceive things as we do? And is there actually a final answer to all the questions we have?
Just because we have found physics and math useful in understanding our world, does that mean that all aliens also use it? Just because we view our world one way and thus view the Universe through that lens, are there other ways? We have such challenges in communicating with others of our own species, can we possibly exchange ideas with totally alien life forms? Especially as we’ve already sent out incorrect data (the image of two hydrogen atoms on Pioneer 10 and 11) and bad directions to our solar system and planet.
With groan worthy dad jokes and cute illustrations, Whitson takes us through many of the possible issues that could affect whether or not we could effectively communicate with aliens when we can’t do that with other life forms on our planet plus he throws in the history of a lot of human science and asks us questions like what are numbers? If numbers exist, where are they? Under the bed or at the bus stop?
Interesting information abounds and even if we never meet up with aliens who meet all our criteria to help us along and give us the answers we long for, pondering these questions can open new avenues of investigation and might let us become our own source to understand the Universe. B
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Eclectic indeed, Jayne! Thanks for sharing your list of reads.
@Kareni: “And now for something completely different.”
@Jayne ~ I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned Do I Know You?: A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination by Sadie Dingfelder. I found it a fascinating read.
@Kareni: The title is ringing a vague bell and I just went and added it to my wishlist. Thanks for the reminder.