Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession

 

Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession by Craig Childs is a remarkable story of what it means to remove the human past from the ground.  Childs is a purist, believing that nearly nothing should be removed  –  certainly not from pot hunters, and most of the time not by archaeologists.  But he is also a realist.  As the population has exploded in the American Southwest, finds have been discovered at a rapid pace.  Inaction is not possible.

As in all his books, Childs just wraps himself around this subject, seeming to inhabit every topic and area.  He has such passion and drive and he takes his reader along like a seasoned expert, and all is draped in remarkable prose.

Played Out... The Knife of Never Letting Go

 

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is very standard post-apocalyptic, sci-fi YA fare, with a twist.  In this world, men’s thoughts can be read.  This “noise” accompanies them everywhere, and in some areas of this New World it has led to catastrophic results.  This is a good premise, but Ness has a far longer novel than he needs to get his work done.  There is a great deal of repetition, therefore the plot gets lost.  The central idea of men and violence also gets overplayed, and therefore watered down. We are also stuck in Todd’s first person narration for the entire novel, which is not a pleasant place.  His naivete more often than not sounds like whining.  

A Laughable, Ridiculous Overreach

 

Professional reviewers have bent over backward praising James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman’s 2034: A Novel of the Next World War.  I read these reviews and wonderful if we read the same novel.

It would be impossible to explain all the implausible scenarios in the novel.  They just pile up, one upon another.  One is the speed of the crisis: it takes China and the US months to unfold their war.  In this work, and one would think so even more in 2034, crises emerge quickly, and end quickly, for better or worse.  A major conflict between China and the US would not unfold as a Pacific style World War Two naval conflict as these authors predict.

Then there is the initial premise.  The war starts because China has Battlestar Galactica Cylon abilities that literally control US military and civilian technology.  Yes, really.  Battlestar did a better job, as it was plausible in that world.  Yet another problem: why would one nation with nuclear capacity attack another with nuclear capacity?  Would not MAD work for the US and China as it did for the US and the Soviet Union.  How about a proxy war before we nuke Shanghai?

There little doubt in my mind that the United States will steadily lose global hegemony in the twenty-first century, perhaps even to China.  But not as this book fantastically, implausibly, and laughably lays out. 

Neti-Neti Meditation

Neti-Neti Meditation by Andre Doshim Halaw is an excellent source book to help eliminated the sense that we are a self.  He challenges us to shift our understanding that the “I” we so often feel is actually an entity we can locate; really, it is simply a process of thought without an anchor.  Halaw provides very easy to understand meditative exercises to help accomplish this.  But really, the devil is in the details.  Taking up a practice is about incorporating it into your daily routine.   That is the only way to do it; we need to find time for the silent 'self' which in very real ways does not exist for Neti-Neti  to work.

 

Writing as Life & Death: Craig Childs

 

Craig Childs writes like it is a matter of life and death.  If you have read some of his books, you will understand why in The Way Out: A True Story of Ruin and Survival.  Here, Childs lays it all out: the history of his family, their struggles, their torn broken hearts and souls.  In a broader sense, the book is about how men (the male of the human species) react to violence.  One way is this: for this author, who explores harsh lands in the desert southwest, traveling the land is the apparent enactment of a death wish.  In this book, we realize how closely death has followed Childs, and how closely he had followed it, for decades.

Site Fidelity by Claire Boyles

 

I have been counting lately. It is just that time of life for me. I have written 28 reviews for Colorado Review since 2015. Reading a book for review provides many gifts: it is gives me the opportunity to learn about topics I would often not normally engage, to focus on the author as architect of their vision and how they flesh it out, and myself as a writer, trying to stay open to new visions and styles. It is a real gift. Here is review 29 of Site Fidelity!

The Reviled Tongue: New York English

 

You Talkin' To Me?: The Unruly History of New York English by E.J. White tells the very informative and entertaining tale of how New York English developed.  White explains that with its non-rhotic characteristics (relating to or denoting a dialect of English in which r is pronounced in prevocalic position only, common in eastern New England, New York City, and Britain) New York English went from the prestige American accent, to one of the most reviled, even by New Yorkers themselves.  Confession: I spent years eliminating my metro New York accent.

As this is an American story, the ‘downfall’ of the accent involves class, race, and the marginalization of immigrants, with a heavy does of Antisemitism.  White has written an important book that should be widely read.