From: alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken)
Subject: a posting about BOOKS (LONG but meaty)
Organization: W S Rupprecht Computer Consulting, Fremont CA
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 05:46:06 GMT

Here are some books I recommend:

1) _Sometimes a Great Notion_ by Ken Kesey.  This is a Great American
Novel.  It is also a replaying of the Cain/Abel East Of Eden theme,
but SaGN is a much better-written than East of Eden.  The Stamper
family characters will stay with the reader a long time after the
reading is done.  Besides the characterizations, there is a lot of
humor and suspense here.  Why oh why hasn't this book been made into a
movie?

Having said all that, I found the character of Lee in this book to be
very irritating.  Was he supposed to be the Kesey character?  Has
anyone read any illuminating criticism on this novel?

2) _Brazzaville Beach_ by William Boyd.  This fascinating book takes
place both in Cornwall and Africa (Mozambique? or Angola?) and
contains insights about plant biology, human evolution, and the
graduate school life.  For sheer originality and interest of plot,
this one is a winner.  The narration is fairly simple and linear, for
people who prefer that type of thing.  One wonders if this book is a
_roman a clef_ about the Leakeys, Goodall/von Lawicks or whoever, or
if it is all fanciful.

By the same author, _Stars and Bars_ was a great disappointment.
Englishmen may be a bit overambitious trying to do a comic Southern
Gothic novel.  I should have been warned off the "zany frolic" quotes
on the cover (but it was a library book).  I have not yet read _The
New Confessions_ or other Boyd works, but am interested in hearing
from those who have.

3) The geology books of John McPhee, namely _Rising from the Plains_,
_In Suspect Terrain_, and _Basin and Range_.  The first, which is
something of a western, is the best.  The story follows the poignant
career of David Love, a Wyoming native and passionate devotee of the
outdoors, who opened his own backyard to U mining and ruin.  All three
of these books portray scientists as interesting people, which is
somewhat unique in its own right.  You might think that books largely
about American geography would be a chore to read, but actually they
go down very quickly.  I'd recommend _Basin and Range_ in particular
for a transcontinental airplane flight, so you can gaze upon the
mountains while you read how they got there.

I'd be interested to hear what any geology insiders thought about
_Suspect Terrain_.  Are the criticisms of plate tectonics in this book
generally thought to be valid?  And are there any books on Bay Area
geology that are written a similar level for us non-geologist
enthusiasts?

4) _Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman_ by James Gleick.
Even if you liked Feynman's own books, I think this one may be for
physicists only.  Nonetheless, Gleick's portrait of an insecure
Feynman plagued by doubts of his own talent is very touching.  Despite
the mythologizing title, Gleick presents a great deal of background on
how Feynman developed his ideas.

Summary: good, but not in the same league as _Alan Turing: The
Enigma_ as a science biography.
-- 
Alison Chaiken 				alison@wsrcc.com
(510) 422-7129 [daytime] 		or chaiken@cmsgee.llnl.gov
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books