Prohibition, Socks, and Bathtub Gin

Day 148 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Tony (aka my husband) is reading Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, by Daniel Okrent, because he wants to know more about the money and power behind prohibition and connect it to the current debates on legalization of marijuana.

The book just came out in May, so Tony requested it at the library and got an email when it came in, and I hope he is able to renew it so he can finish it. So far he is impressed by the bombardment of facts, including one he didn't know: some of our elected representatives used to be appointed. "Think of the corruption!" he said, pulling on his socks this morning. Then, revising his cynicism a tad, "Think of the potential for corruption!"

(These were clean socks, but they will be sweaty later, as Tony was on his way to volleyball camp. Tomorrow is laundry day, which happens to coincide with garbage day in my household. Speaking of which, I cleaned up my office, and rearranged the book stacks, to impress my daughter, who has not yet noticed.) If he doesn't finish it in time, and can't renew it, maybe he will watch the upcoming Ken Burns documentary on prohibition. But I think he is really enjoying the reading, despite the tendency to fall asleep. (He's a hardworking, physical labor, volleyball coach of a man. Who likes a good Cuba libre at the end of the day.)

But reading, to return to our main subject, is a pleasure all its own. To hold the book in hand, to concentrate, to look up and ponder, to re-read that last paragraph....to....zzzz.

OK, but I, too, am interested in how the do-gooders and temperance ladies, together with the activists for women's suffrage (sometimes the same people), coincided with the powers that be (not, then, the women, but they were clearly gaining power) to produce legislation and an era, bound to be revoked, and residual good & ill. The dustjacket flap promises rich detail and the truth about Joseph P. Kennedy! And The Great Gatsby! And Dorothy Parker. Who is reading Dorothy Parker? Who is drinking bathtub gin?

On the Media & On Math

Day 147 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and I'm glad to report that National Public Radio is rebroadcasting its "Book It" Series on On the Media. You can hear stories on the publishing industry, the future of reading, comparative reading, and innovations in reading. For all you aural learners and audioreaders, NPR is a wonderful thing.

When I was teaching, we'd do essays on early reading experiences to make that connection between reading and writing, and, in some cases, try to figure out where it all went hooey, when they stopped loving reading. Main answer: when they had to read for school and write papers. So many students told me about their joyful library "Book It" programs--a different "book it"--with prizes including personal pizzas.

I was always a happy youngster at the library, with no incentives but the reading itself. I would sometimes agonize over the choices, though, not wanting to be disappointed. Sometimes I yearned for something magical, fantastic, or scary. I was in second grade when I read a book of Alfred Hitchcock (was he the editor? did he write the intro?) stories when my parents went out and we had a babysitter. My mom warned me not to, but I did it anyway, and scared myself silly--then had to wait for them to get home to be comforted. Meanwhile, I was scared and, as the oldest, embarrassed.

Today, continuing in the Anthony Arthur book Literary Feuds, I read about C. P. Snow and F. R. Leavis and the "two cultures" (science and literature) debate. Snow was a scientist and a novelist, and mainly a generalist. Leavis was an academic and literary critic, and a specialist. Snow was wildly popular and successful. Leavis was not, comparatively speaking, and was known for his sharp, witty, and pretty mean reviews.

I had been pondering the "two cultures" thing--from the early 1960s--pretty recently--that is, in the 2000s--because a buddy in the Great Books biz had brought it up again, noticing that indeed many scientists he knows are rather well read in literature while the literary bunch is not very well read in the sciences. The science journalists and generalists and literary science types have done a lot to change that in recent decades, making many scientific concepts clear to lay people. Why can't we all get along? (Boy, would Leavis make fun of me!)

It is so nice to be unimportant. No one will feud with me!

Anyhoo, the science vs. humanities debate brings me to Taye, who is reading math. A big 3-volume set of mathematics essays, covering the history of mathematical thought and also special kinds of math. He told me that books 6 and 7 were intentionally left out of this fantastic set of writings when it was translated from Russian to English, and these are the books that make sense of everything. Why?! Why were these books left out?!

Fortunately, they were later published in English in a journal, harder to find than the books. Taye says that you open most math books and see lots of numbers. Not these. These have words. He hated math as a kid in school. He says you have to force yourself to think in math ways, and once he did, he understood things better, everything. He saw connections. He teaches political science and thinking with math logic has changed his life and his teaching.

Sigh.... But I do possess and have read around in Poetry of the Universe: A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos, by Robert Osserman. At Taye's urging, I will read around in it some more.

I Forgot a Title for This One

Days 145 & 146 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and this is a two-for-one as it was not convenient to connect to the Internet yesterday (pool party, fireworks, Missouri). But it was convenient to chat with people about what they were reading, as I am wont to do.

Morgan is reading the Temperance Brennan mystery series by Kathy Reichs, and is on book 5, which, thanks to Stop, You're Killing Me! I know to be Bare Bones. Yes, this is the character of the same name, but a completely different personality, according to Morgan, in the television series Bones. Morgan said most of the books have "bones" or "dead" in the title, the first book being Deja Dead, a catchy title, indeed. This is true, though one is called Fatal Voyage, another Monday Mourning, and another the particularly fun Grave Secrets. Morgan is reading these books "for fun" because during the school year she has 3 academic books going at a time as she pursues her masters degree in theology.

Phileta is also reading a mystery this summer, one with gambling and baseball thrown in: The Mercy Rule, by John Lescroart. I link you to the hardcover because that's what Phileta found on top of her dresser when she cleaned it off for the first time in, and I quote, ten years, and that's why she is reading it now. It was indeed first published in 1998 and she got a stack of hardcovers for sale 10 years ago, put them on the dresser, and is just now getting to them. She read the first few pages of some of these books and if they didn't grab her, she set them aside. The Mercy Rule grabbed her.

Her husband is doggedly making his way through the other hardcovers so it won't have been a waste of money.

Inside the Criminal Brain...for Life + 99

Day 144 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and I have a feeling some satisfied Babbitt's customer is reading Life Plus 99 Years, by Nathan F. Leopold, Jr, and introduced by Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason crime stories, because I can't find our Babbitt's copy on the search page....and it was a real deal compared to the ones I can find online.

It was a 1974 reprint edition of the 1958 book by the convicted murder of Bobby Franks in the famous Leopold and Loeb case, where lawyer Clarence Darrow had them plead guilty, since they were, and made a famous speech that saved them from the death penalty. The judge sentenced them to "life plus 99 years," which might have meant forever, but Richard Loeb was knifed in the shower and died in prison, and Nathan Leopold was paroled and evidently really did try to do some good things after the really bad thing of cold-blooded kidnapping and murder. Which he did after reading Nietzsche.

It's the cold-blooded part I'm interested in here, and the structure of his brain, after hearing a fascinating story on NPR's Morning Edition, coming back from my morning swim. It's a special series called Inside the Criminal Brain, and in it researcher Jim Fallon discovers true crime in his own heritage and a black hole of remorselessness in his own brain.

It's pretty freaky, but he's not disturbed, and neither is his wife, and neither is his mother, who is the one who suggested he look into his family history, on his father's side, in the first place! There are 3 main ingredients that lead to criminal behavior, says Fallon. One is brain structure, and one is genes, so he also looked at his immediate family's DNA. Again, he's got the freaky genes, the possible psychopath or sociopath genes.

But, fortunately, he had a happy childhood. The 3rd ingredient is abuse or exposure to violence in childhood. The abused child who has icky brain patterns and icky DNA has a tough time ahead.

One thing that confused me is that Fallon called this a "young science" when I know from handling other books that doctors and criminologists and people in law enforcement have been looking at the brain for years to discover tendencies of the criminal mind. Not to mention phrenologists! Anyhoo, new knowledge and new measurement techniques have no doubt produced new (young) theories, yet to be fully tested...but people have known from observation for a long time that some people tend toward criminality. It's interesting how what we know and what we assume and what we are allowed to study or to say...keep changing.

And will continue to change, probably for life plus 99 years.

Stop, You're Killing Me!

Day 143 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Christine is reading mysteries, mysteries, and more mysteries. Mysteries out the wazoo! She likes to collect a whole series before she starts reading, so she can read them in order without interruption or anxiety about finding the next one. She might read the first book from the library, but then she collects them at used bookstores, garage sales, and, as a last resort, new bookstores.

Christine is very organized, with a big 3-ring notebook, color thumbtabs, labels, and checkmarks. She is helped in her process by the fabulous mystery book website, Stop, You're Killing Me!--"a website to die for...if you love mysteries!" You can click the alphabet to find an author or a main character, and find the series listed in order, etc. So go to that link for any authors or series I mention here! (Well, I will provide a few links for clarity.)

Like Jo, who labeled these "cozy mysteries," Christine prefers "light, fun" mysteries, where everything works out in the end and nothing is too dark. She read all of Patricia Cornwall, but ultimately Cornwall "got too serious" for her. She is not reading Stieg Larsson's Millennium Triology!

She also does not like the Magoddy series by Joan Hess, though she has all 20 books, collected because she liked the first series, with Claire Molloy as a bookstore owner! When she's done with a series, she sells it or trades it for another, or, if she likes it, sends it on to her mom, also a mystery reader.

One of Christine's favorite authors is Nancy Martin, who writes about the Blackbird Sisters, starting with How to Murder a Millionaire.

I have to say I am very impressed with Christine's organizational system, including book storage. She has an armoire with the rod taken out, stuffed with books, in bags, labeled.

This is the opposite of me. I have bookshelves, yes, but also stacks on the floor that prompted my daughter to say, "Why is it a mess?!" when she walked into my otherwise neat office last night. At least my poetry bookcase is alphabetical, now with chapbooks removed and stored in baskets so they don't get squeezed by bigger books, or slip behind them when books are moved. And also to protect the ribbons on the spines of some of them! We don't want any poetry chapbooks to cry, "Stop, you're killing me!"

Be careful out there. Don't get stuffed in an armoire.