Victor Samuel Mejia (Author of GOD'S FLESH)

Victor rated a book it was ok The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
First of all, I think this story is overrated and overwrought. It could have been told in half the words, but Fitzgerald is a prose stylist and this is supposed to be the novel's charm. I admit that old Fitz crafts some beautiful phrases once in whil ...more
Jun 05, 2025 12:18PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor has read Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 08, 2025 07:12AM · like
Victor rated a book it was ok Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valle ...more
Feb 01, 2025 07:46AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book really liked it Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafti ...more
Jan 31, 2025 02:13PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book it was ok Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valle ...more
Jan 31, 2025 10:48AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book really liked it James by Percival Everett	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sam Clemens knocked it out of the park with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And Hemingway was right: all American literature begins with Twain’s novel. So, I was excited to read James, by Percival Everett, which I’d heard was a retelling of Huck ...more
Jan 20, 2025 11:15AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of James by Percival Everett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — James by Percival Everett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book really liked it The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've read two books by Greene. The other is Mastery. Both are process analysis tomes—manuals that employ historical narratives to explain how to achieve mastery in a field or acquire power. Self-help books. Sort of. The 48 Laws of Power picks up wher ...more
Jan 18, 2025 12:10PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book liked it Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic a ...more
Jan 12, 2025 08:00PM · like · see review
Victor rated a book really liked it Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafti ...more
Jan 12, 2025 07:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Victor rated a book liked it Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic a ...more
Jan 05, 2025 03:29PM · like · see review

Victor rated a book it was ok

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First of all, I think this story is overrated and overwrought. It could have been told in half the words, but Fitzgerald is a prose stylist and this is supposed to be the novel's charm. I admit that old Fitz crafts some beautiful phrases once in whil ...more

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Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
by Charles Duhigg (Goodreads Author)

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Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
by Camilla Townsend

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Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valle Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valley of Mexico. Townsend then devotes the first half of her book (about 85 pages) to the rise of the Mexica, while the second half focuses on the conquest and its consequences over the ensuing decades. Pretty standard stuff.

I’ve read many books about the Mexica and can’t say that this one presents anything really “new” or revealing. Townsend does offer new details on certain key players in the drama that I hadn’t read before, especially on Malintzin, the native translator and mistress of Hernan Cortes. She also highlights the work of Don Domingo Chimalpahin, a literate and Christian Nahua who grew up in the post-conquest years and wrote about the current events of his time and about his indigenous heritage. But the information seems banal. It didn’t alter in any significant way what I already knew about the Mexica.

Her book is not a new history but perhaps a new interpretation. Townsend explains that she will tell the story of the Mexica “by stitching various sources together to create a vignette about a single person.” She concedes that “this is an imaginative act and perhaps dangerous in a work of history.” She is right on both counts, and it is no different from all history books about the Mexica, which are to some extent "imaginative acts” because none are based on pre-conquest, native written records. The Western culture that destroyed Mexica society now urges us to accept the imaginative acts they've performed in recreating it. It’s a farce.

I was hoping that this book would offer new and revealing information about the Mexica. But this was not the case. Instead, Townsend’s purpose is to legitimize the post-conquest sources she and other historians use to define the ancient Mexicans. Controversy surrounds them because, without exception, all are either heavily influenced by Western-Christian culture and/or were produced AFTER the conquest. None of the written and pictographic documents available are pre-conquest sources. Although the Mexica kept hundreds if not thousands of “amoxtlis” (pictographic books) in their libraries, they were all destroyed by the Spaniards. Not one survived the flames. Not one.

Our understanding of the Mexica, therefore, comes entirely from the physical ruins of Tenochtitlan, from what the Spaniards wrote about them, and from what native scribes wrote under the guidance and influence of Spanish priests. In her study of these sources, Townsend concludes that: “it has become abundantly clear to me that we can indeed recount a relatively accurate version of Aztec history from a few generations before the conquest, and I have done so here.” Relatively. Though Townsend may be right, the lack of primary, pre-conquest sources remains a grave and understated problem in Mexica research. We are left to rely on what the conquerors have recorded.

The victors write history and the losers are forced to accept what their rulers call them. The Mexica are a textbook example. They never identified as “Aztecs” but as Mexica (Mehsheeka). Townsend acknowledges this fact in the Note on Terminology: “[T]echnicaly speaking, there never were any ‘Aztecs.’ No people ever called themselves that. It was a word that scholars began to use in the eighteenth century to describe the people who dominated central Mexico at the time of the Spaniards’ arrival.”

Yet, Townsend continues to use the misnomer. She of course is reaching for a broad audience with her use of “Aztec”. It’s an appeal to the common knowledge of her mostly western readers who are familiar with the name but probably not with the more exotic “Mexica.” But it seems to me that if her book had truly been a new perspective, Mexica would’ve appeared in the subtitle. So much for a new history of the “Aztecs.” ...more

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Encounters with the Archdruid
by John McPhee

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I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafti I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafting trip and everyone on board boos him.

I reread it recently for a book club that emphasizes nature, health, and the outdoors. Once a month we hike through the chaparral and oaks at Placerita Nature Center and pause several times along the way to discuss the month’s selection.

Encounters with the Archdruid is about Dave Brower, the conservationist, mountain climber and former head of the Sierra Club. Rereading it made me realize how much my own views on the environment have changed. I’m not as sympathetic to Brower’s brand of environmentalism as I was in graduate school (Earth first. We’ll mine the other planets later).

In the book, Charles Fraser, a resort developer, calls Brower not a conservationist but a preservationist. A "preservationist is a druid," he says. "Ancient druids used to sacrifice human beings under oak trees... Modern druids worship trees and sacrifice human beings to those trees."

It's an apt description of Brower, whose beliefs on the planet have mutated into a violent radicalism that sees today’s activists torching SUVs, defacing valuable works of art in museums, and sabotaging logging equipment. Brower is the "godfather" of environmentalism, and though he never employed violent tactics, he believed in saving the wilderness at all costs. “Population is pollution spelled inside out,” says Brower.

I think McPhee does a fair job of portraying Brower and his opponents (e.g., Fraser, a resort developer; Floyd Dominy, a damn builder; and Charles Park, a mineral engineer) without taking sides. He presents their arguments in their own words through conversations with Brower and demonstrates that there is no win-win solution. There are only trade-offs and compromises that expose what we value most and what we don’t, what we are willing to save and sacrifice.

Brower prefers to sacrifice people, and it is this anti-humanist stance that some of his critics find repellent and unconscionable. Yet, the mountain climber sometimes comes across as reasonable, especially when he concedes that it’s possible to build a resort on Cumberland Island while protecting its wild beauty.

Still, Brower condemns the unchecked growth of civilization and its effect on the planet. He charges that we are "addicted" to materialism, that we "haven't done anything well for a thousand years, except multiply." Though hyperbolic and irrational, it is a claim that serves his purpose of persuading humanity to sacrifice its standard of living for the environment’s sake.

McPhee observes: Brower “thinks that conservation should be 'an ethic and conscience in everything we do, whatever our field of endeavor'--in a word, a religion." I don’t know if McPhee was the first to call the environmental movement a religion, but that is what it is. And like all religions, environmentalism has often bred fanaticism, intolerance, and violence against its enemies.

Yet, Brower is not wrong that humanity's relationship with mother nature needs to change. At its core, the destruction of the environment is a spiritual problem—one that cannot really be solved through legislation. I think Brower knew this though he doesn’t present a path to that spiritual transformation. ...more

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Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
by Camilla Townsend

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Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valle Like all books on Mexica history, this one begins with the typical and requisite material: a glossary of Nahuatl terms, a note on proper pronunciation and limits of translation, a genealogy chart of the “Tenochca Royal Family,” and a map of the Valley of Mexico. Townsend then devotes the first half of her book (about 85 pages) to the rise of the Mexica, while the second half focuses on the conquest and its consequences over the ensuing decades. Pretty standard stuff.

I’ve read many books about the Mexica and can’t say that this one presents anything really “new” or revealing. Townsend does offer new details on certain key players in the drama that I hadn’t read before, especially on Malintzin, the native translator and mistress of Hernan Cortes. She also highlights the work of Don Domingo Chimalpahin, a literate and Christian Nahua who grew up in the post-conquest years and wrote about the current events of his time and about his indigenous heritage. But the information seems banal. It didn’t alter in any significant way what I already knew about the Mexica.

Her book is not a new history but perhaps a new interpretation. Townsend explains that she will tell the story of the Mexica “by stitching various sources together to create a vignette about a single person.” She concedes that “this is an imaginative act and perhaps dangerous in a work of history.” She is right on both counts, and it is no different from all history books about the Mexica, which are to some extent "imaginative acts” because none are based on pre-conquest, native written records. The Western culture that destroyed Mexica society now urges us to accept the imaginative acts they've performed in recreating it. It’s a farce.

I was hoping that this book would offer new and revealing information about the Mexica. But this was not the case. Instead, Townsend’s purpose is to legitimize the post-conquest sources she and other historians use to define the ancient Mexicans. Controversy surrounds them because, without exception, all are either heavily influenced by Western-Christian culture and/or were produced AFTER the conquest. None of the written and pictographic documents available are pre-conquest sources. Although the Mexica kept hundreds if not thousands of “amoxtlis” (pictographic books) in their libraries, they were all destroyed by the Spaniards. Not one survived the flames. Not one.

Our understanding of the Mexica, therefore, comes entirely from the physical ruins of Tenochtitlan, from what the Spaniards wrote about them, and from what native scribes wrote under the guidance and influence of Spanish priests. In her study of these sources, Townsend concludes that: “it has become abundantly clear to me that we can indeed recount a relatively accurate version of Aztec history from a few generations before the conquest, and I have done so here.” Relatively. Though Townsend may be right, the lack of primary, pre-conquest sources remains a grave and understated problem in Mexica research. We are left to rely on what the conquerors have recorded.

The victors write history and the losers are forced to accept what their rulers call them. The Mexica are a textbook example. They never identified as “Aztecs” but as Mexica (Mehsheeka). Townsend acknowledges this fact in the Note on Terminology: “[T]echnicaly speaking, there never were any ‘Aztecs.’ No people ever called themselves that. It was a word that scholars began to use in the eighteenth century to describe the people who dominated central Mexico at the time of the Spaniards’ arrival.”

Yet, Townsend continues to use the misnomer. She of course is reaching for a broad audience with her use of “Aztec”. It’s an appeal to the common knowledge of her mostly western readers who are familiar with the name but probably not with the more exotic “Mexica.” But it seems to me that if her book had truly been a new perspective, Mexica would’ve appeared in the subtitle. So much for a new history of the “Aztecs.” ...more

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James
by Percival Everett

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Sam Clemens knocked it out of the park with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And Hemingway was right: all American literature begins with Twain’s novel. So, I was excited to read James, by Percival Everett, which I’d heard was a retelling of Huck Sam Clemens knocked it out of the park with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And Hemingway was right: all American literature begins with Twain’s novel. So, I was excited to read James, by Percival Everett, which I’d heard was a retelling of Huck Finn but from Jim’s perspective, the slave.

James is not exactly that. Although there is significant overlap between the two novels, especially in the first half, James veers off into an alternate timeline. Twain’s novel takes place during President Andrew Jackson’s administration; whereas, Everett’s is set at the eve of the Civil War. This setting serves Everett’s purpose of pushing the issue of slavery to the forefront of his narrative and highlighting its inherent immorality.

Everett’s novel is also darker in tone than Twain’s. His white characters are hateful, disgraceful, and demonic, especially because Jim often calls his environment “hell.” Twain's white characters, in contrast, are mostly bumbling, ignorant, and absurd. Cartoonish.

James is of course Jim, and in Everett’s story, he can read and write. Although it’s never clearly explained how Jim became literate, this trait adds a philosophical dimension to the character. His literacy is at the core of the tension within the narrative. Jim is also an atheist, and his criticism of religion is the other side of the slavery coin. Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, said the same thing. In the south, religion and slavery went hand in hand. But Jim doesn’t make the distinction that Douglass did between the nominal Christianity of the south and the Christianity of Christ.

Though dark, there is quite a bit of humor in Everett’s novel, much of which is a result of seeing the events of Huck Finn from Jim’s point of view. So, if you’ve never read Twain’s classic, do so before reading James. Everett’s is a compelling story that can stand on its own feet. While Twain's novel is about Huck’s growth and affection for Jim, Everett's is about Jim’s condition as a slave, his humanity, and his love for his wife and daughter (though Jim’s relationship with Huck is developed in a surprising way.)

I enjoyed Everett’s characterization of Jim. He was noble, brave, intelligent, personable and still flawed like all humans. Huck, on the other hand, was a different matter. He was not quite the Huck from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was less of a rascal and less charming and endearing than he was in Twain’s novel. At times I also thought Huck’s dialect was wrong and not true to the white Missouri dialect Twain used. Or maybe it's my old ear that is to blame. Overall, Everett did a fine job of honoring the source material. ...more

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The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene (Goodreads Author)

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I've read two books by Greene. The other is Mastery. Both are process analysis tomes—manuals that employ historical narratives to explain how to achieve mastery in a field or acquire power. Self-help books. Sort of. The 48 Laws of Power picks up wher I've read two books by Greene. The other is Mastery. Both are process analysis tomes—manuals that employ historical narratives to explain how to achieve mastery in a field or acquire power. Self-help books. Sort of. The 48 Laws of Power picks up where The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, left off. Although not vital to understanding Greene’s book, read The Prince first.

So what kind of power are we talking about? Electrical? Solar? Wind? Political power, obviously. Yet Greene never defines the term. He assumes the reader already knows the definition. The closest he comes to defining political power is when he writes that “Power is a game--this cannot be repeated too often--and in games you do not judge your opponents by their intentions but by the effect of the actions.”

But what kind of game? What is its nature? We’re all familiar with political power, but how many of us could define it? Most might balk and stutter if asked. Or we might echo US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who in 1964 admitted he could not adequately define pornography but said, “I know it when I see it.” If there's a flaw in Greene’s book, I think it’s this ironic absence of a clear definition.

So what is political power? The best definition I've come across is from writer and political analyst, Richard J. Maybury, who said it is “the legal privilege of using force on persons who have not harmed anyone.” Power then is the game of coercion and corruption. Maybury’s definition applies to The 48 Laws of Power, as Greene highlights the machinations of some of history’s famous and infamous. In their ploys and tactics, he unearths the lessons to be learned and to be leveraged to our advantage. It’s a fascinating read even if solely from a human psychology perspective.

But Greene’s book accomplished another purpose for me. His analysis of the courtier’s role in the Chinese Han Dynasty and the purported supernatural events of the time (“two-headed sheep, geese flying backwards, stars suddenly appearing in different parts of the sky”) helped explain similar “bizarre manifestations” that were recorded in the Aztec Empire before the conquest ( a two-headed man entered the emperor’s chamber then suddenly vanished, a heron was discovered with a black mirror attached to its head that reflected strange images, a shrine inexplicably burst into flames and intensified when water was poured on it…)

The 48 Laws of Power is a breakdown of the rules one should follow in order to triumph in the battle of wills on earth. Greene claims that everyone desires power though some may dissimulate in mixed company about it. Behind the polite veneer, we are all cunning and conniving, we’re all plotting to gain some advantage over each other, according to Greene. He writes that: "If the world is a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it, there is no use in trying to opt out of the game. That will only render you powerless, and powerlessness will make you miserable."

Perhaps. But if power also means having the ability to defend oneself from the tyrants of the world, then I suppose we all want power. We might admire powerful people, but we rarely examine how they became that way. This book reveals the process. The 48 laws are the behaviors to follow that will help you attain power and perhaps wealth. And it won’t happen through kindness, generosity, humility, or empathy. It takes a Claudius. Not a Jesus. Machiavelli would have been proud. ...more

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Moby-Dick or, The Whale
by Herman Melville

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I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic a I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic and exotic for the mostly immigrant students that populated my high school and for whom English was their second or third language.

So, I shelved the book. It collected dust until last week, when I decided to finish it during the Christmas break. Although I admire Melville's hypotactic style, the novel is ponderous and prolix. I read The Modern Literary Classics edition, which ran 851 pages and 135 chapters. But the core of the narrative--that is, the actual story about the crazed Captain Ahab bent on vengeance for the loss of his leg at the maw of the white whale, covered about 10-15 chapters.

So what are the rest of the chapters about? Well, pretty much everything you would want to know about whaling and Sperm whales--their behavior, physical dimensions, biological features, psychology, diet, blubber, spout and breathing habits, whale oil extraction, harpoons, blubber hooks, etc. So in one sense, Moby Dick is a marine biology textbook about Sperm whales. Fascinating stuff if you're a sea life enthusiast. Tedious as all get out otherwise.

I found myself nodding off often reading about the minutiae of the skeletal structure: "In the full-grown creature the skull will measure at least twenty feet in length. Unhinge the lower jaw, and the side view of the skull is as the side view of the moderately inclined plane resting throughout on a level base..." Yawn.

Too much pointless detail that doesn’t move the story forward, in my view. Yet, the details are part of the point. Melville was determined to write THE whale story to rule them all, and Moby Dick is a titanic tome worthy, I suppose, of the oceanic leviathan itself. So are the non-narrative chapters worth reading? Somewhat. If you’re a miner of good writing and penetrating philosophy, you’ll find the occasional gold nugget:

"Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."

Indeed.

You can absorb the essence of Moby Dick by reading the first quarter and the last quarter of the book (or finding an abridged edition) and jumping over the middle chapters like they’re fly-over states. The story IS compelling, especially the final battle with the freakish, albino spermaceti. Melville's description of Ahab’s and his crew’s struggle to subdue the white whale is riveting and beautifully written—a classic battle of man versus nature. I won't spoil the ending but take a wild guess who wins?

Book a month-long cruise to the south pacific and bring Moby Dick. When you come across another liner, gam with the crew and ask, “Hast thou seen the white whale, me hearty?” ...more

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Encounters with the Archdruid
by John McPhee

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I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafti I read this book about thirty years ago when I was in graduate school. I enjoyed it, but since then the narrative has eluded me. I could only recall an amusing scene where McPhee tosses the pull tab of his Coors can into the Colorado River on a rafting trip and everyone on board boos him.

I reread it recently for a book club that emphasizes nature, health, and the outdoors. Once a month we hike through the chaparral and oaks at Placerita Nature Center and pause several times along the way to discuss the month’s selection.

Encounters with the Archdruid is about Dave Brower, the conservationist, mountain climber and former head of the Sierra Club. Rereading it made me realize how much my own views on the environment have changed. I’m not as sympathetic to Brower’s brand of environmentalism as I was in graduate school (Earth first. We’ll mine the other planets later).

In the book, Charles Fraser, a resort developer, calls Brower not a conservationist but a preservationist. A "preservationist is a druid," he says. "Ancient druids used to sacrifice human beings under oak trees... Modern druids worship trees and sacrifice human beings to those trees."

It's an apt description of Brower, whose beliefs on the planet have mutated into a violent radicalism that sees today’s activists torching SUVs, defacing valuable works of art in museums, and sabotaging logging equipment. Brower is the "godfather" of environmentalism, and though he never employed violent tactics, he believed in saving the wilderness at all costs. “Population is pollution spelled inside out,” says Brower.

I think McPhee does a fair job of portraying Brower and his opponents (e.g., Fraser, a resort developer; Floyd Dominy, a damn builder; and Charles Park, a mineral engineer) without taking sides. He presents their arguments in their own words through conversations with Brower and demonstrates that there is no win-win solution. There are only trade-offs and compromises that expose what we value most and what we don’t, what we are willing to save and sacrifice.

Brower prefers to sacrifice people, and it is this anti-humanist stance that some of his critics find repellent and unconscionable. Yet, the mountain climber sometimes comes across as reasonable, especially when he concedes that it’s possible to build a resort on Cumberland Island while protecting its wild beauty.

Still, Brower condemns the unchecked growth of civilization and its effect on the planet. He charges that we are "addicted" to materialism, that we "haven't done anything well for a thousand years, except multiply." Though hyperbolic and irrational, it is a claim that serves his purpose of persuading humanity to sacrifice its standard of living for the environment’s sake.

McPhee observes: Brower “thinks that conservation should be 'an ethic and conscience in everything we do, whatever our field of endeavor'--in a word, a religion." I don’t know if McPhee was the first to call the environmental movement a religion, but that is what it is. And like all religions, environmentalism has often bred fanaticism, intolerance, and violence against its enemies.

Yet, Brower is not wrong that humanity's relationship with mother nature needs to change. At its core, the destruction of the environment is a spiritual problem—one that cannot really be solved through legislation. I think Brower knew this though he doesn’t present a path to that spiritual transformation. ...more

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Moby-Dick or, The Whale
by Herman Melville

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I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic a I bought a copy of Moby Dick in 2004 and shelved it for twenty years. Actually, I read about a quarter of it, hoping to teach it to high school juniors. But I realized it was a near-impossible quest. The novel was too long, too verbose, too cryptic and exotic for the mostly immigrant students that populated my high school and for whom English was their second or third language.

So, I shelved the book. It collected dust until last week, when I decided to finish it during the Christmas break. Although I admire Melville's hypotactic style, the novel is ponderous and prolix. I read The Modern Literary Classics edition, which ran 851 pages and 135 chapters. But the core of the narrative--that is, the actual story about the crazed Captain Ahab bent on vengeance for the loss of his leg at the maw of the white whale, covered about 10-15 chapters.

So what are the rest of the chapters about? Well, pretty much everything you would want to know about whaling and Sperm whales--their behavior, physical dimensions, biological features, psychology, diet, blubber, spout and breathing habits, whale oil extraction, harpoons, blubber hooks, etc. So in one sense, Moby Dick is a marine biology textbook about Sperm whales. Fascinating stuff if you're a sea life enthusiast. Tedious as all get out otherwise.

I found myself nodding off often reading about the minutiae of the skeletal structure: "In the full-grown creature the skull will measure at least twenty feet in length. Unhinge the lower jaw, and the side view of the skull is as the side view of the moderately inclined plane resting throughout on a level base..." Yawn.

Too much pointless detail that doesn’t move the story forward, in my view. Yet, the details are part of the point. Melville was determined to write THE whale story to rule them all, and Moby Dick is a titanic tome worthy, I suppose, of the oceanic leviathan itself. So are the non-narrative chapters worth reading? Somewhat. If you’re a miner of good writing and penetrating philosophy, you’ll find the occasional gold nugget:

"Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."

Indeed.

You can absorb the essence of Moby Dick by reading the first quarter and the last quarter of the book (or finding an abridged edition) and jumping over the middle chapters like they’re fly-over states. The story IS compelling, especially the final battle with the freakish, albino spermaceti. Melville's description of Ahab’s and his crew’s struggle to subdue the white whale is riveting and beautifully written—a classic battle of man versus nature. I won't spoil the ending but take a wild guess who wins?

Book a month-long cruise to the south pacific and bring Moby Dick. When you come across another liner, gam with the crew and ask, “Hast thou seen the white whale, me hearty?” ...more

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