From Baen Free Library.

This has been an “in progress” book since living in Philadelphia. Recent events and subsequent comments about the Amish have led me to want to connect more directly with the culture.

As i return to it, i find the land issues - protecting small farms from urban encroachment - more compelling than the community dynamics. Indeed, while Testa lives with and witnesses a family’s life, he also witnesses the intense practice of separateness—which includes a certain closing off. I see why i put the book down so often: Much is Testa’s story, not that of the Amish.

I wonder: was he not aware enough to draw a stronger picture of community dynamics? Or is he shielding his friends from his pen?

Another thing i note is how clock aware, how time aware he is. I don’t think i’ve given up my watch as an outward sign of simplicity, but his constant noting of the hour and minute impresses me—i’m not sure whether the Amish are clock driven (seems terribly unlikely) or he is. The only evidence for “clock driven” is a comment about the Amish often being early, yet my guess is that is more a practice of being freed of time. I suspect lateness in our culture comes from being tied up with appointments and timed events that prevents a natural flow.

Interesting presentation of an alien culture that has a high level of violence by creating a evolutionary cause for the violence that is different than the cause for human violence. Zettel managed this by creating a rather different way of passing on a family’s genetic material. The corporate entities which structure human culture are plausible and rather optimistic.

I’m not actually consuming this, but i can’t seem to convince All-Consuming to let me add it as something i should consume.

http://www.genderchip.org/documentary.html

It’s not listed at NetFlix.

While i was reading the book yesterday evening, i took a break to finish watching the recent HHGTG movie. The end of that movie, when “life” is turned back on, a tribute to Douglas Adams’ passion for our planet, was particularly poignant while caught up in a story of our greying earth.

There is no spare. We can’t bet on space-time travel. We need to protect our planet and not give in to the fear. The dystopian “American” political system put forth in Seeds of Time doesn’t seem so far off after the vote on Capitol Hill this week.

Relevant, well written, and fascinating heroine.

The paperback cover art reminds me of Honor Harrington portraits; the contrast in the two characters and how they must survive in a male power structure is also something to reflect upon.

p327

I didn’t really enjoy the previous novel, either, but with this one available on the trade table at work, i thought i’d see how the next book compared. The family saga continued in the same vein, and i continued to dislike many of the characters. It is well written and intelligent, and i find the political forces interesting, thus the second attempt. This time, i have other books waiting though, so i will move on.

Another book from the book table at work. I found reading this challenging, far more prose poetry than a novel. On the other hand, i also found it inspiring. I’m intrigued by the “this means that” and the tables, indices, and glossaries.

http://otherelectricities.com/otherelectricities/index.html

I’ll admit this is the inspiration around a nascent project called “Helicopter Correspondences.”

I was initially delighted with the skewering of the campaign process and treated the text as simply humorous. (What better candidate than one that doesn’t say anything?) As I continued to read this 1994 book, i became more frustrated with how it seemed prescient and with the subtle “conservative” point of view.

It’s a rare book that makes me wish for a book group to try and disentangle layers of message. This book has some very interesting and relevant layers that could bear discussion.

I’ve finished this text as part of the on-line Physical Geography course at Foothill College. It seems to me to be “Earth Science for Adults,” a comprehensive review of all the interactions of wind, water, sun, and land. Of course the text does not follow an Aristotelian model, but a takes a systems approach.

I very much enjoyed the clear diagrams and the photos, many taken by the author and, presumably, his wife. They live in California so i enjoyed seeing those photos. My guess is Christopherson has a strong bias towards geology: the section that gave a broad geologic overview had the richest and most sensitive text—and seemingly the most accurate.

For sections where abstract physical forces come into play, i found some of the descriptions fail the rule for simplifying. The explanations - say of the Corelois force - were so distilled down that the essence was lost. Nonetheless, the text provides clear presentations of atmospheric patterns and the interconnections of many forces that create such complex systems as that of the general climate. A success, despite a physicist’s quibble.

Other sections, like the soil section, were noted as derived from reference works, and thus become a good reference as well.

I’d recommend this book for any amateur naturalist. I can think of a number of books in my personal library, including such masterpieces as McPhee’s Annals of the Former World, that are well complimented by the graphic, photographic, geographic, and textual overviews of this text.

I haven’t exactly finished the book, but with the classes i’ve been taking - partly inspired by the book - i don’t think i can commit to it this fall.

On the other hand, the long hand morning pages are probably a tool i should keep at hand. There are also “Mind Hacks,” as one might call them, processing tools that help with motivation and processing conflicting feelings. I should probably review the book for some of those tools to keep on hand for the next few months.