The Swerve: How The World Became Modern

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern is Harvard Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt’s account of the rediscovery of Lucretius’s 1st-century poem De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, and the role its ideas played in triggering the Renaissance. Rather than tackling this topic head-on, Greenblatt approaches it through the story of Medieval papal secretary and bibliophile Poggio Bracciolini, who discovered the poem in a remote monastery in 1417.

Poggio Bracciolini, or Poggio the Florentine, was a Humanist scholar who worked in the papal court, and who was one of the most prolific bookhunters of the Medieval period. After the pope he was serving under was deposed, he went on a search for lost Classical manuscripts in remote monasteries around Europe. Many Classical works did not survive past their own time, either devoured by bookworms, decayed, written over, or simply forgotten--but others survived, as monks had copied some manuscripts repeatedly over the years. The copy of De Rerum Natura that Poggio found was one of these texts, tucked away in a isolated German monastery for centuries. A glance at the first few pages was all Poggio needed to see that he had found something of importance, as although Lucretius’s name was often mentioned in works by his contemporaries, none of his other works have ever been discovered. Although Poggio probably had some idea of the importance of the work, he probably had no idea of what the full impact of the poem would be; nor of the “dangerous” ideas within.

Lucretius’s poem itself is full of Epicurean ideas--that fortuna, chance, dictates the course of people’s lives, not the gods, that everything was made up of tiny atoms, the titular swerve--a principle of Epicurean physics that says atoms are constantly swerving into each other randomly, creating the infinite complexities of the universe, and so on. Greenblatt’s book focuses on how the recirculation of these ideas ultimately triggered the Renaissance. However, The Swerve only goes into this concept superficially. Greenblatt never really does explain “how the world became modern;” the poem clearly was just one factor in the complex start of the Renaissance, not its sole catalyst. But The Swerve never really touches on the other ideas and works that triggered the Renaissance, so the book seems to present On the Nature of Things as the period’s only cause. Greenblatt is at his best when retelling the story of an overlooked historical figure, Poggio Bracciolini, not when trying to convince the reader that one poem caused the whole of the Renaissance. 

Although the book does have some flaws, such as its slightly superficial approach to the origins of the Renaissance, it’s also an extremely interesting read, and one that I highly recommend. Greenblatt’s writing style is easy to understand while still conveying the history of the period elegantly. Sacrificing some accuracy for a broader look at the impact of the poem ultimately works; The Swerve connects Poggio’s quest for lost manuscripts and his life with history from the Medieval period, Lucretius and his contemporaries around the first century, the discovery of charred manuscripts in the ruins of Pompeii, how Lucretius’s poem impacted history from his time onwards, and more. The Swerve contains interesting historical facts as well as a broad look at what caused the Renaissance, so if you’re interested in history at all, I absolutely recommend reading it.

Shadow Divers- Terra Hazen

Shadow Divers: An Underwater Mystery

Robert Kurson’s book, Shadow Divers: The true adventure of two Americans who risked everything to solve one of the last mysteries of World War II, is a breathtaking story that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. This tale takes us into the perils of the sea and through the twisted wreckage of a german U-boat.

This unsolvable mystery begins in 1991. A deep sea diver and charter boat captain named Bill Nagle was sitting at a ramshackle bar in Brielle, New Jersey. A fisherman mentioned to him a great fishing spot about 60 miles off of the New Jersey coast. He knew that Bill was a deep wreck diver and he warned Bill , before he gave him the coordinates of the site, that the wreck or clump of rocks or whatever was on the oceans bottom, was deep, very deep. The fisherman gave Bill the coordinates and warned him to be careful. Bill called a friend and fellow deep wreck diver named John Chatterton. Bill told John about the “mystery” site and both divers knew that they had to find out what was lying in the ocean so close to their home. They booked their trip to the wreck site over Labor Day weekend and called some of the best divers on the east coast and invited them on their trip. Many declined, but some of the bravest few also felt the draw to dive the wreck that Chatterton and Bill felt. This was something new and exciting; the wreck was full of possibilities. Chatterton, Bill and the 12 other divers pulled out of the harbor just after midnight on September 2nd. The Seeker (Bill’s boat) reached its destination around sunrise that morning. As Bill captained the boat over the coordinates he was given, he saw that there was something lying on the ocean floor by using his reader. The wreck looked like a ship turned over on its side. They decided that Chatterton would dive down to see what the wreck was. If it was worth diving he would let the others know and then everyone would be able to splash in and explore the wreck. Chatterton jumped over the edge of the boat. He was dressed in his diving suit with two oxygen tanks strapped to his back. As he plummeted down to the ocean’s bottom, he began to vaguely make out a shape on the ocean floor. He knew it was a ship of some sort but he was not able to see the whole boat as the visibility was very low that day. He hooked the anchor line to the ship and began to swim along the top of the wreck. He came to a stop as he approached a hatch built angled into the ship. He thought, “Barges did not have hatches like this.” He assumed that the wreck was just a sunken trash barge, and wondered. “Who would build a hatch that angled into a ship?” Inside the hatch was a small room, the visibility was perfect as the room was protected from the oceans currents. Against one of the walls lay a shape. This was a shape unlike another in the world, this was a shape from scary movies and terrifying books. “Fins. Propeller. Cigar body… A torpedo. A complete intact torpedo.” During his decompression to the surface, Chatterton thought about what he just saw. His mind was confused, could he have really seen a torpedo? Could that really be a submarine lying just outside their home? After the first trip to the submarine all of the divers began their research. No documents on the German or U.S. side had any record of a submarine ever being sunk within a 200 mile radius of the wreck site. How did the boat get there? How did it meet its end? These are the questions that the divers are desperately trying to answer. This unsolvable mystery takes them back to the wreck site many times, but the answer as to the identity of the sub lies hidden in the rubble and wreckage, 230 feet below the ocean’s surface. 

Shadow Divers was a New York Times bestseller, and this accomplishment has a lot to do with how the book was written. Robert Kurson doesn't just tell the story; he incorporates information about the world of diving and he explains why many of the procedures and maneuvers that divers do are done. For example, Robert Kurson explains what happens when a diver doesn't decompress all of the way, what goes on in the mind when a diver runs out of air, or what can happen when a diver loses sight of the anchor line or the wreck. It is these little facts and tidbits of information that make the book such a unique read. It is easier to understand what the divers are doing and what is going on in their minds when they are swimming through the wreck because of the insight that this book gives us into diving. I would recommend this book to any type of reader. Whether you like fiction or non-fiction, a thriller or a comedy, this book is a must read. The seemingly unsolvable mystery will have every reader gripped and the suspense and danger of deep wreck diving may come as a shock to those who thought it was a “gentle” sport. 

Scar Tissue – Book Review

Sam Demas

Jan. 12^th 2014

            Scar Tissue, a self written auto-biography of Anthony Kiedis, follows the somewhat hectic and drug binged journey of a boy, evolving into a self made star and lead man of “The Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Written with so much detail, it could pass for a biography of the whole band, describing 3 out of the 4 members from a very young age. The Chili Peppers road to fame and trudge to the top keep you constantly glued to your book (or in my case my kindle.) Whether it’s finding out the significance of some of your favorite lyrics to feeling heart wrenched from the characters excessive drug use and addiction development; this is a great read with excitement and good life lessons.

            I really enjoyed the beginning of the book from Anthony’s toddler years to his late teen life, because at this point he wasn’t lured on hard drugs. Besides some occasional pot and drinking, it was just his creative mind and his punk shenanigans. Not only was he a punk, like I mentioned, he was a smart Punk who landed many jobs acting as a teenager in Coca-Cola commercials and many others. He was the tough type, never taking shit from anyone and ALWAYS standing up for his friends. ”Adolescence is such a fun time in your life, because you think you know it all, and you haven’t gotten to the point where you realize that you know almost nothing. “ Reading of Anthony’s escapades, such as sneaking into clubs in L.A., from his first sexual thoughts and encounters keeps you glued to the page feeling like quite the high school bad ass yourself. His descriptions of beautiful women and urging feelings of love are another great part of the book. “When I looked into her eyes, I saw an invisible spirit of something I had already loved.” However once he becomes sucked into his endless circle of hard drugs, you begin to see his love life, career, friends, and physical health take a turn for the worse.

            Drugs play a huge role in Scar Tissue. I think it could have very well been the backing purpose to the whole book. Being involved with “drugs” ever since he was 12, Anthony was simply smoking pot for quite some time, however once he got into cocaine, and “China White” heroine, the book takes you on a never ending downward spiral, from drug binges and withdrawals, from crashing in and out of rehab. ”When you’re using drugs, you’re driven by this mystical black energy, a force inside you that just won’t quit. And the weaker you get, the more you feed into that energy, and the more it fucks with you. When your spirit becomes dark and your lifestyle becomes dark, your existence is susceptible to infiltration by dark spirits. I’ve seen it so many times with addicts. You can see that they’re controlled by dark energy, the way they look, their appearance, their voice, their behavior, it’s not them.” Anthony and virtually the whole band experiment with every drug they can get their hands on, but it’s the coke and heroine that really start to deteriorate their way of life, especially Anthony’s. This autobiography shows the power of addiction, and the altercation drugs can put on your life and career. The book is brutally honest showing his addiction problem all the way up till 11 years ago, where he has became sober and stayed sober until the present day.

            Scar Tissue is one of the most interesting and intriguing books I have ever read. Through the life of a punk/funk rocker you learn a lot of things that you wouldn't understand without reading it yourself. However along the whole way you are entertained by Anthony Kiedis’ adventure and love filled life.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

In the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Oliver Sacks depicts various stories from his time working as a Physician and Neurologist. Unlike most case studies, Sacks presents these patients in a way that makes them seem more than just clinical studies. He shows the humanity beneath the “defects” of these people. This is done in a way that makes this book not only interesting to read and informative, but also thought provoking. He makes his reader reevaluate these patients, seeing past the problems and towards the underlying brilliance of these people.

Oliver Sacks is a Physician, Psychiatrist, Professor of Neurology and Author who has written 12 books. He studied at The Queen’s College in Oxford and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is best known for his books made up of case studies that he has observed over the years including, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, written in 1985. It is his 4^th book and instantly hit the best-sellers list shortly after its publication.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is broken up into a short story format with four main sections. These sections organize the stories into stories about lost brain functions, excess brain functioning, hallucinations and mentally disabled patients. Each chapter of the book tells a new story; although every story is distinct, they all have one theme in common: Sacks represents the person in each case as more than just a subject. He tries to show the reader how each patient is special; and despite the issues they may have, they are human. He even writes, “ We paid far too much attention to the defects of our patients…. And far too little to what was intact or preserved” (Pg. 183).

Sacks writes about patients such as a blind woman who cannot feel her hands and a young girl with a brain tumor who has vivid “day dreams” about her home in India. He also writes about people suffering from Aphasia, Tourette Syndrome, Memory loss, “Cupid’s Disease” and much more. All these stories are very interesting. Sacks does a great job of explaining what he observed so the reader gets a clear view of each case and the events that took place while he watched his patients. He also does a fantastic job of breaking down what is going on into plain language, often avoiding words used mainly in neuroscience and psychology. However, occasionally I found he would discuss things that I was not familiar with, so then I would Google it. He did this most often in the postscript sections at the end of almost every story. Also in the postscript sections, Sacks tries to wrap up the stories of each case. But, that is hard to do often because Sacks sees these patients once or twice and then never again, or the story ends abruptly and tragically. 

This particular book is “written in a lighter, more informal style” (Oliver Sacks, oliversacks.com) which makes the book mostly a light, informative read. I also found that because of his writing style each case was easier to understand. His style also made the book feel less like you were reading a series of case studies and more like you were reading short stories.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you have any interest in psychology or neuroscience. Though, even if you don’t, I still recommend it. I think it gives you a great insight into the lives of those with neurological disorders. It also makes you think about the brain and how complex it is and how we know so little about it. Finally, it reminds you of how lucky you are to have a healthy, normal, functioning brain. No only that, but this book is also intriguing and paints people you normally dismiss as “sick”, “retarded” or “gone” in a new light.

Blink Book Review

Jon Young

Blink Review

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, is an informational and educational look at our hidden inherent ability to make snap decision with very little information in the blink of an eye without truly knowing we have.

Gladwell's style of writing helped the way I read and understood the facts and experiments he brought to light. He writes smoothly, as if telling a story. It's more conversational than a straight reiteration of facts and studies. The majority of the book is made up of descriptions of many different studies and experiences of different people and scientists in regard to our instant thought processes.

He demonstrates our ability to "thin slice" a problem and take only the necessary information required to make a decision based on our first impression. He talks about a study in which looking at a clip of only three minutes of a couple talking you can know with fairly accurate certainty whether or not they will still be together several years in the future. This study by Gottman was possible because of our ability to thin slice. He found that the presence of contempt was the only truly viable piece of information required to accurately judge a couple. Another demonstration of first impression decisions is when Gladwell tells the story of a famous orchestra that decided to begin having their auditions for new musicians be held behind a curtain. In this way they were judging the possible addition to their symphony based on skill alone and not what they looked like, how they acted, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a great read, but also had a large amount of information on the subject. I recommend it highly as an informational text on our split second decisions that we do not know we make. I recommend it for those of you who have those inklings, those feelings about something you have no idea where they come from and aren't sure you should trust. This book will explain to you where they come from and help you to make an informed decision whether to trust them or not.

An Immaculate review of "An Open Heart"

     The book "An Open Heart, Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life" by the Dalai Lama and edited by Nicholas Vreeland has a special ability that few books possess. The power to change your life.
      What makes this such a moving read is not only the well thought out content displayed by the Dalai Lama, but how the book is put together. This book is essentially a guide,  creating a starting spot for those uneducated in the Buddhist religion and the art of meditation. We begin with learning how Buddhists see life through their eyes, eternal suffering; and the goal of this religion being to escape this suffering by clearing the conscious.
      Once comfortable with the basic premise of the religion, and lifestyle the pole of Buddhist belief follow we begin to be led down a path on how to end our own suffering. But to create this understanding we must first acknowledge that we are in fact suffering. To build this case The Dalai Lama carefully chose explicit examples to display our non-virtuous emotions and habits to ourselves: selfishness, hate, desire, and lack of compassion. By proving to his readers that we do in fact hold many non-virtuous characteristics in our personalities he is able to make us believe that we need to change something. This is how he is able to change us through a 190 page book.
     Now that we have come to the understanding that we do have flaws, which consequently lead to emotions and habits such as anger, insecurity, and over-attachment we all want to find out how to move past this. He answers this with a simple solution: meditation. To many readers, especially in the United States where Buddhism holds the faith of under two percent, it is only logical to start off with the most basic forms of meditation as a way to ease the reader into it. The Dalai Lam does just that and makes sure to thoroughly explain the technique, importance, and usefulness of this practice through examples that tie into our lives, making it very easy for the reader to begin their practice with faith that it is worth it.
     With the reader now putting faith in his hands, the Dali Lama takes his time to slowly integrate new and more complicated forms of meditation, all the while explaining the importance, holding the readers hand through this new experience and making sure that we stay faithful to the idea.
     Once we have progressed through these multiple steps the Dalai Lama leaves us with some words of wisdom that only make sense once you have read through the whole book.
     If one is truly invested in beginning a change in their life, this is a great place to start. There are plenty of books that go into more depth in the practices of Buddhism than this, but none will be as patient with the reader throughout this new journey as this one by "His Holiness" himself.


Tristan Purdy

The Hot Zone

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a thrilling book about various strains of a level four virus that could kill off the human population in just weeks if it were to break out. Richardson became inspired by his first hand account of the virus when he paid a visit to Africa and saw the impact of epidemics. When he read an article was published in the New York Times called “Crisis in the Hot Zone,” Preston became inspired to write this true story. After extensive research on the virus and the story, the book began to fall into place. He educated himself by doing comprehensive interviews with the books contacts, Dr. C.J. Peters and Nancy Jaax.

            Interestingly enough, the book starts with Preston’s attempt to “see through people’s faces into their minds and listen through their words into their lives.” He includes a few pages that captivate the human urge to understand things that they can’t. His illustration of an ID card which is required for authorized entry into an infectious area, suit AA-5, a biosafety level four zone that consists of an air-lock door and a decon shower, grabs the readers attention without any words. The desire to find out what is behind those doors makes it tough to not read on. He then opens the book with character Charles Monet (who’s name was changed), a plantation worker along the Nzoia River in Africa. He tells the story of Monet’s New years spent by Mount Elgon and his detailed descriptions of nature’s effect on Kitum Cave. Kitum cave quickly becomes a location of interest for Part One of the book. This trip into Kitum Cave held the life of Charles Monet in its hands. Preston takes us through the grueling attack an unknown virus would have on this innocent mans life.  Then, Preston dives into the vivid details and effects of this unknown virus as

“The bag swells up. Perhaps he glances around, and then you see that his lips are smeared with something slippery and red, mixed with black specks, as if he has been eating coffee grounds. His eyes are the color of rubies, and his face is an expressionless mass of bruises.”

He introduces us to black vomit, blood clotting, depersonalization and the utter liquefaction of all internal function that this brutal virus causes inside of humans. Charles Monet dies, bleeding out on the floor of the hospital in Africa. He made an preferable host for this virus, but as readers we quickly learn that we all would be the perfect hosts for this ruthless killer.

            After Preston “hosts” a trip through many cases in Africa, he makes this virus more real to the typical American readers, by flying the them to a location right outside of our nations capital in Reston, Virginia. There is a primate quarantine unit where a shipment of monkeys from the Philippines had just arrived. This shipment of monkeys would be a major cause for concern rather than the cute little primates they appeared as on the outside. These “animals were dying of Ebola Zaire,” a level four hot agent that the discovery team feared could wipe out the entire population of humans. This is where emotion flooded the book. These real characters had to contemplate their exposure to this virus. They would be put in the Slammer or the “The Biosafety Level 4 containment hospital,” that the Army uses to put people in for a month after they have been exposed to deadly hot virus. This slammer makes people go crazy. After they have determined that this deadly hot virus is plaguing the Monkey House, it is up to the team of the C.D.C. and the USAMRIID’s to figure out how to contain the virus and protect the safety of the human population. They go though a suspenseful process, but you will have to read the book to find out if this virus will break out. Will the United States itself become a Hot Zone?

            Preston is a brilliant writer and the way the book is written makes it very intriguing, emotional and relatable. He writes detailed description of his characters and his settings and the readers can picture themselves walking in the area of Mount Elgon in Africa. Just as you think the book is going to get boring, he comes in with a suspenseful account of how Ebola and Marburg have affected the lives of well-developed characters. He instills an attachment to the characters before he illustrates their brutal deaths. This gives the book a sort of deep emotion and evokes fear in the reader. It also talks about the first hand account of the lives of the career path and the mental sanity that is required to deal with level 4 hot agents daily. If the is one slip of this virus, these people could also bleed out and die. They volunteer their lives for the safety of the public. This book is an amazing read and it offers a clear and deep explanation of the potential effect a hot virus could have on the world. I would highly recommend reading it because readers get an exclusive view into the lives of those who live in the “Hot Zone,” and protect our lives everyday.