{[(5 - 3) + 6 - 2 = 6 - 1] = 5 - 1 = 4} - 1 = 3 - 1 = 2 books, and one is reviewed here... so 1 book left after this!

8. Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy

This is just one volume in the series Popular Culture and Philosophy, George A. Reisch, series editor. There must be a hundred books in the series by now.

The idea is to apply philosophical questions to popular television series or movie(s). But not always. There are topics like Metallica and Philosophy, Baseball and Philosophy, Harley-Davidson and Philosophy, and even iPod and Philosophy. These alongside Family Guy and Philosophy, The Matrix and Philosophy, House and Philosophy, and [Any Video Game You've Ever Played] and Philosophy.

To enjoy the books, you need some knowledge of philosophy (Western and Eastern), but not a lot. You'll want to be substantially familiar with the subject matter, be it a television series or a trendy diet plan. (Philosophy and the Atkins Diet. I kid you not.) When I started the series, I was worried my philosophy background was too rusty. That's not the problem: It's that I'm only familiar with about a tenth of the pop culture addressed and that knowledge is what you need to get into it.

The Quentin Tarantino volume deals with some of the more obvious philosophical aspects of his movies. The majority of the philosopher-writers take off from competing moral theories and apply them to characters and events in the film. With Tarantino's movies, you could pretty much build an academic career doing only that.

Other subfields investigated are Time and Causality, as in Pulp Fiction, where telling the story out of sequence gives multiple takes on cause and effect; and, the concepts of identity and spirituality, with reference to Jules' epiphany in Pulp Fiction and the Bride's conversion from "natural born killer" (Tarantino's self-tribute?) to "Mommy" in Kill Bill.

Uma Thurman, as The Bride in Kill Bill
(and now, my desktop image)

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson as Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction

This is a thought-provoking and entertaining book in a very creative series. This is one of my favorite volumes. Of all the volumes I've read, my "#1 favorite" is House and Philosophy. Oh wait, Lost and Philosophy. But then I really enjoyed The Office and Philosophy. You get the idea.





 

{[(5 - 3) + 6 - 2 = 6 - 1] = 5 - 1 = 4} - 1 = 3 - 1 other nonfiction book, reviewed here, with remainder of 2.

7.  Shot in the Heart 

"I have a story to tell. It is a story of murder told from inside the house where murder is born. It is the house where I grew up, a house that, in some ways, I have never been able to leave."                  -- Mikal Gilmore  

    

Mikal Gilmore's brother was Gary Gilmore. In 1977 Gary Gilmore became the first prisoner in America to be executed after a decade-long span that many thought would lead to abolishment of the death penalty. 

Gilmore had been sentenced to death by a Utah state court for two cold-blooded murders. After all appeals failed, the state of Utah tacitly assumed that he would live out his life on death row. But Gary Gilmore knew his rights. He was entitled to an execution if he so wanted, and he was asking for death. Death by firing squad.

Gary Gilmore was undeniably intelligent;
and by all reports, so were the other boys.
Mikal is a reporter for Rolling Stone.
He is the only brother who broke
out of the family mold.

The country and beyond kept vigil on site and at the TV as days and hours and minutes passed, to see if Gary Gilmore would be executed. Yet when the Utah firing squad shot him in the heart, there was widespread shock and sorrow—not so much for Gary as for the change wrought in the history of capital punishment.

The family on the book cover are the Gilmores; the boys, Frank, Gary, and Galen. (Galen also died a horrible, violent death—over time.) The brother who wrote this book, Mikal, hadn't been born when this photo was taken. 

Gary looked pretty hardened already. 

This is a multi-generational story of a ruined American family living a low-rent life in the American West. There's a familial connection, at least according to family lore, to Harry Houdini. There are sweet but painful stories of the extended family's past, where the ultimate tragedies told of in the book seem foreshadowed. 

In the boys' time growing up, there's alcohol, and domestic abuse, and both random and predictable violence. These are children routinely terrified, and terrified of what comes next. Then they are adult men, who model their lives on family history and who carry the outcome of that to the highest imaginable extreme.

Norman Mailer wrote a book about these same events, The Executioner's Song. Won a Pulitzer Prize, it did. It's 1000+ pages, with trivialities like a hotel room described in exhaustive detail over multiple pages. Whatever. Shot in the Heart is much more worth our time.


Photo from date of execution, 1977

Caption states: Sandbags reinforced the chair in which Gary Gilmore died today. Arrow points to blood-stained bullet hole. Hood rests on top.

{[(5 - 3) + 6 - 2 = 6 - 1] = 5 - 1 = 4} - 1 = 3 nonfiction books left to review—so here's this one.

 6. Elephant's Graveyard

 

This play is nonfictional. It's based on a 1916 historical event and the legend that has grown out of that. 

Elephant's Graveyard is one of the most upsetting pieces of literature I have ever enjoyed. I was fascinated and horrified by it. For the entire second half of the play I wept openly. It was the same for pretty much everyone around me. 

The story's about a traveling circus and a muddy Tennessee town that come together to effect an unspeakable tragedy.

Oh, boy, let's read that! But seriously, you must read it, and if you ever get a chance, see the play. I lived through the performance (barely) and went right home and ordered the play. Its sadness is redeemed by the depth of its portrayal of humans as animals.


The star of the traveling circus is Mary, a giant Asian elephant. The circus advertises her as “The Largest Living Land Animal on Earth,” weighing “over 5 tons” and standing “3 inches taller than Jumbo,” the star elephant of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

That's all you need to know for now. If you go to read Elephant's Graveyard, I suggest you shield yourself from the blurbs on Amazon, and the copy on the back of the book. Avoid anyone who says, I've seen that! You want to encounter this story unprepared.

Now let me see if, without giving away anything more, I can express one level of meaning I got out of this.... The events in this play exemplify the worst of human behavior toward those perceived as the lesser, or weaker. It's how animals, children, women, blacks, people with disabilities, immigrants, Jews, Mexicans—I could go on—have been treated by people who come to view the Other as dangerous beyond their differences, and get an opportunity to wield self-righteous power.

As I stumbled out of the auditorium after this play, I felt shock, shame, despair, sorrow, humility, I'll stop there. This is not a work that resolves or redeems in the end. The ending is as far as you can get from happy. And as close as you can get to the Shadow. 

This is the production I saw. 

Interestingly, there is no elephant in the play.

{[(5 - 3) + 6] - 2} = 6 - 1 = 5 - 1 = 4 Nonfiction Books After This One Here

First The American Way of Death and now this. People are going to think I'm really into reading about death. Gosh, I hope not. I mean, I am really into it, but I'm hoping people don't think that.

6. Death: The Trip of a Lifetime

It might seem odd that I'd recommend this book for when you're down, but it's perfect for that. Oh, wait, maybe that's just me again.

From the author's introduction:

Although some strange rituals are described, this is not Indigenous Peoples Do the Darndest Things!  Although religious persons state their beliefs about the life everlasting, this is not A Day in the Life of Heaven and Hell.  Although some of the methods human beings use to prepare for death are discussed, this is not So! You're Going to Die!  Although much factual information slips in here and there, this is not A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Contemporary Death Attitudes, Belief Systems, Funeral Rituals, and Totemic Manifestation in Pre- and Postindustrial, Urban, and Agrarian Societies. And finally, although this book is certainly associated with the PBS series of the same name, this is not A Companion to the TV Shows, With the Same Stuff Just All Written Out.

All that is what this book is not. It's kind of like atheism—so much easier to say what you don't believe in than what you do believe in. But I'm copping out here. Rather than trying to characterize it further, I'll give a glimpse of some chapter titles: Death Fests of the Mysterious East; Down Under, Down Under; Putting it Off; and Not Dead, Only Sleeping.
 
               *******

Hey, it could be sleeping.

 I am particularly amused by that last one. It's what I used to tell the kids when they spotted roadkill. I'd say, "Oh, no, he's not dead, he's only sleeping!" They'd stare at the flattened, furry, sometime bleeding body in the road and I could see doubt in their eyes....

[(5 - 3) + 6] -2 = 6, and Now -1 More Nonfiction Book... So There Are 5 Left

I'm trying to post some short fluffy stuff between the posts about these books, but I'm pretty carried away by all I've flushed out of my bookshelves and baskets.

5. Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences

I would have read this book if only for the intriguing title and the wicked cool photo on the cover. (Another good one to carry around!) I bet Tenner being the author didn't hurt the sales of it either.

I thought this book was going to cover things like how we have this sh-tload of software on the computers in our offices, but no one who knows how to use it to the full capacity programmed
into it. 

But Tenner addresses other "advancements" that have turned around and attacked us:  

• football padding that has made the game much more dangerous 

• ATMs with people lined up to use them while four tellers stand idle

• breakthroughs in antibiotics that create resistant strains of the bacteria we're battling

• military body armor that drastically reduces mortal combat wounds, only to leave soldiers without any limbs, or with severe head wounds they never recover from

• the "paperless office" with recycling bins overflowing and substantial orders of file folders and labels never abating

Ha, that last one reminds me of something I noticed in an office once. We were always going on about turning it into a paperless operation and I thought, Could we start, maybe, by teaching everyone how to suppress the blank page at the end of a document? There must be a million blank pages "printed" and routinely dumped in recycling every day in US businesses. Easily—yet never—addressed.

There is a grave unintended consequence this book can have: It can make one paranoid and even fatalistic.

First, one begins to appreciate the reality and gravity of unintended consequences.
 
Then one realizes that unintended consequences are a necessary by-product of everything we do.

Then one frets over what good or bad unintended consequences might arise out of our decisions. Or won't arise because we didn't make the decision or made the wrong one or...

Then one curls up on the floor in the dark and wishes it all were over. 

But maybe that's just me.

[(5 - 3) + 6] -2 = 6 Nonfiction Books I Now Want to Write About; Anyway, Here Are the Two for This Post

I knew what could happen if I looked around the bookshelves here for the other three nonfiction books I planned to present. I ended up with 6 more books so now we're down for 9 total. Wait, no. Something like that. Perhaps this should just become an endless series so I don't have to hold it to a specific count.

3. Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization

Hodding Carter wrote this. Nice name, Hodding. (Not really.) There's not much more to say about it in relation to the book, but if his name sounds familiar it's because he had a role in the Carter administration.

Now this is not a great piece of reportage, but it's a great topic and a good enough book. It covers plumbing's long and colorful history; for example, the story of the aqueducts, which has always been a crowd-pleaser among even the most indifferent toward plumbing.

I myself have always been into plumbing. At first I didn't notice I was, but then I realized I had—somewhen, somewhere—learned how to replace a ball cock with a float cup. And when once asked what I'd wish for, for everyone, I said, "sanitary plumbing for all." There have been additional incidents that led to this self-discovery.

Something I wish this book went into is what life is like without plumbing, but I suppose that is beyond its intent. Nonetheless, billions of people in the world have "nowhere to go"—no sanitation facilities whatsoever, not even a bucket or a box or a plastic bag. My dog has that. If you're interested in the state of sanitation today, and what can be done to vastly improve the lives and dignity of half the world's population, you might hit up Rotary International online. They once ran a wicked good piece on world sanitation in their magazine, The Rotarian.

Yes, I read The Rotarian. Shaddup.

4. Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf

Omigod, this is hands-down one of the best books I've ever read. I hear a lot of people say they're into Sacks and they mention The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, or Awakenings, and these are fine books. But sometimes an author transcends himself with one book. For Sacks, it's this one.

Want to see into a subculture that is all around you, but you don't usually notice? When you get into this book, you'll be introduced to the Deaf community. Not the deaf community, the Deaf one. Sacks explains the distinction between capital Deaf and lowercase deaf. It's fascinating.

I came at this book from a more informed place than most will. As a grad student in Linguistics at UCSD in the 80s, some of my work was in ASL. The Salk Institute there is the heart of research into sign languages and I had the opportunity to work with Bellugi, Klima (my advisor), and Padden. Hm. These names are unlikely to be familiar unless you have a connection with Deaf people or ASL Linguistics. Anyway, there's a lot about all this in Sack's book.

I'll move onto the exploration of sign languages that Sacks presents. There will (may) come a point in reading this book when you suddenly "get" what signers are doing. It's so much like spoken language in so many ways—for example, propositional length (how long it takes you to get an idea out there) is equal to propositional length in a spoken language. Think about that. We can sign as fast as we talk.

Great shot of a conversation. They're not standing face to face,
looking at each other's hands. This is much more like it is in real life.

Yet, obviously, it's different in that it utilizes another dimension to replace sound: the visio-spatial aspect within our sensory repertoire. In learning about signing, when the break-through comes, you suddenly see how a movement of one finger (already defined as a certain person) toward another finger (already defined as another certain person) can carry all the meaning of "She came toward him"—and can be adjusted to carry different or ameliorated meanings such as "came down to him," "up to him," "ran over to him," "left him," etc., etc., etc. Sign does not rely only on "pictures"; movement and direction are crucial parameters.

Focusing on the subjective experience, this language is beautiful. Like to listen to someone speak Italian? All right, this is like that. No, it really is like that. It is gratifying and enchanting to learn ASL. When you know it to even some level, it is mesmerizing to "listen to."

I can't recommend this book enough. And carry it around with you when you read it. All your Deaf friends will think you're really in-the-know.<wink>

5 - 3 = 2 nonfiction books that are arguably fascinating—C'mon, stick with me here!

I'll read fiction when forced to, or when it's something I should read so I can sound not-so-completely out of it. But I vastly prefer nonfiction. Not so much the pop politics and pop philosophy, the "self-help" books (don't get me started on where I think that's taken us), or those instructing the manipulation of others. (I so don't care about How to Win Friends and Influence People. In that, I prefer a more focused approach.)

What I like is delving into the nitty-gritty of an offshoot of a sub-field of a field I already know next to nothing about. It's like, New World! Here are some of my favorites:

1. The American Way of Death Revisited

This exposé of the U.S. funeral industry was first published in 19xx; Mitford revised it in 19xx; then, she died.

I've seen this book cited in countless other books and articles. Once you've read it, you'll see it all over, too.

Mitford positively skewers the creators of the "beautiful memory picture" and their sneaky money-making techniques. Her deadly courteous interview questions and her deadpan observations will make you laugh—and make you writhe.

After reading this... 3 times so far... I can see more of the "hidden" industries as, well, industries. The book's a general education as well as a specifically focused one.

Of course, Mitford's practical viewpoint on the funeral industry is not the only way to look at things. I find myself balancing a few of her pronouncements against the natural workings of a market economy and against some indications that mourners get comfort out of arranging and spending for varying amounts of funeral pomp. Nonetheless, this book "puts too fine a point on it"—with wicked success.

2. One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal

This book is not Check Out What These People Did While Stuck Together—Wink, Wink. It's not even Oo, Here's How That Works. It's about identity, that is, "I" vs. "The Other," informed by the voices of conjoined twins. Imagine that conjoined twins might have a lot to say about this, huh?

You can read the opinions of many twins who were never separated (because of medical impossibility or their families' "do no harm" approach). To a one, they express happiness with remaining conjoined and conviction in that it was the right thing for them. Their individual identities incorporate conjoinment: it is normal to them. As many have pointed out regarding congenital differences, the person feels normal "to themselves." Who are we to muck about before they can even give a perspective on it?

This can be hard to grasp emotionally. Once you accept this new way of thinking about conjoined twins, there are implications for other "medical interventions." I was mulling this over when I watched a video about Abby and Brittany Hensel. It expanded my concept of individual identity. It focuses the question of valuing deviation from the norm vs. "correcting" it. (Though the possibility—or threat—of separating Abby and Brittany did not arise.) Well, see what you think.

That seems like plenty of content for a blog post. I'll continue another time, to review three more books. I already know which ones.