tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54329031498864843492024-03-08T18:33:56.243+07:00Shreds of a bizarre worldHere you won't find the pages of a pedantic journal, praises to fantastic places or accounts of memorable encounters. This is a collection of stories, thoughts, images, and most of all odd stuff, even though to someone else it might actually look ordinary. To discern its bizarre side, in fact, special filters are needed: cynicism, fussiness, stubbornness, isolation, impudence, nosiness and nerdiness. All flaws that, in different measure, this semi-nomadic being has got embedded in his genes.Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.comBlogger425125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-29271978353610067672024-02-15T17:08:00.003+07:002024-02-15T17:13:35.214+07:00Chilled distilled life<p><span style="font-family: arial;">All of a sudden, for no apparent reason,<br />I want to be sitting at one of those courts <br />where Thai people go for beers and snacks.<br />An occasional foreigner can be spotted there,<br />brought by his local date, disoriented, out of place, <br />too dumbfounded to even be amused.<br />I want to be more bewildered than him, <br />for I'd go there alone, on my own accord.<br />I want to be a stuttering weird-worded weirdo, <br />speak Thai with a waitress<br />who’s expecting English.<br />I want to feel self-conscious, <br />stared at, gossiped about,<br />at least in the perceptual trap<br />of my paranoid thoughts.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">I want to be dragged out of my comfort zone, <br />be derailed from the commuter course of my circular thinking.<br />I want to overcome that first spell of embarrassment, <br />and start to observe everything <br />from a different angle.<br />I want to build new, productive synapses, <br />connect old neurons in airy new ways,<br />reach out for the Big Bang of novel ideas,<br />a still unexpanded space where events can’t take place<br />and yet, paradoxically, already there, up for grabs.<br />I want to emit ampler, rounder brain waves,<br />reboot my sensors, for too long clogged-up<br />and perceive the ensuing post-release nervous shock.<br />I want to make contact with the core of my soul,<br />take a throat-biting sip of chilled distilled life.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-37018047732015330982024-02-08T18:09:00.002+07:002024-02-08T20:13:25.133+07:00Einstein's dreams - Alan Lightman<span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPZtNOVwx_x055CAf0iDup070OupH79Om5gCsNXpAHTTip3TTp1FEQfosqQwmVC4cvNrVzYLNVu57L17-mLZ-fEg_gzI_SwNFuf8Oh1zNtEteaK76uDCEbTBR68EfI0dsk00q-k0jwKN2VNmRh5zhLRrIMeXaMESGlnkXQzBedQMgtZoIGImqilmB2xk/s1000/einstein_dreams_alan_lightman.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="647" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPZtNOVwx_x055CAf0iDup070OupH79Om5gCsNXpAHTTip3TTp1FEQfosqQwmVC4cvNrVzYLNVu57L17-mLZ-fEg_gzI_SwNFuf8Oh1zNtEteaK76uDCEbTBR68EfI0dsk00q-k0jwKN2VNmRh5zhLRrIMeXaMESGlnkXQzBedQMgtZoIGImqilmB2xk/s320/einstein_dreams_alan_lightman.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />There have always been speculations about Albert Einstein getting his most inspired ideas while he was dreaming. Even though this has never been confirmed, it is true that our brain develops new connections providing insightful ideas during REM sleep, precisely when we are dreaming. Those of you who want to know more about what happens to our body and mind while we are comfortably slumbering on our beds can have a look at <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2022/05/why-we-sleep-matthew-walker.html" target="_blank">“Why we sleep”, a great popular science book written by Matthew Walker</a>.<br />In “Einstein’s dreams” Alan Lightman, who is both a writer and a physicist, tries to figure out all the dreams that the famous Nobel prize winner could have had over the months preceding the publication of his revolutionary paper on relativity theory and specifically about the concept of time. <br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>
Each chapter deals with a possible explanation of how time works. Most of them are obviously not applicable to our reality but they could work in some parallel world and can definitely be used as founding structures for science fiction stories. Each version of time is explained through a fictional short story based in Bern, where Einstein was working as a clerk at the local patent office before becoming the greatest scientist of our time. Each story illustrates the impact of time on nature and human beings, in particular on their relationships, attitudes, aspirations and motivations. It is a very clever and engaging exercise and going through it will only take a few hours of your time.</span><br />
<br />Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-62342512124646322132024-02-07T18:51:00.002+07:002024-02-07T20:26:47.522+07:00On the black hill - Bruce Chatwin<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioglwrn3qMrLs7rX8lFZsDbXVLwNkikqkZSn3y-gtN9EKI0MYYP0c0-tJ6KCRuPyHUGMHV0fklWlb3UTYXKYVpdSw7XTxSmS51dRWJn1FQLX4fhJdFuEBhArRnKSOmdHGYXWozbnwIZp_D_MRbHMmvg0gTsEU2fK75pyMznuydICmdiRMG8o9xSADhCW8/s1224/on_the_black_hill_bruce_chatwin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioglwrn3qMrLs7rX8lFZsDbXVLwNkikqkZSn3y-gtN9EKI0MYYP0c0-tJ6KCRuPyHUGMHV0fklWlb3UTYXKYVpdSw7XTxSmS51dRWJn1FQLX4fhJdFuEBhArRnKSOmdHGYXWozbnwIZp_D_MRbHMmvg0gTsEU2fK75pyMznuydICmdiRMG8o9xSADhCW8/s320/on_the_black_hill_bruce_chatwin.jpg" width="209" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />I’ve had Bruce Chatwin on my author list for a long time. I thought he was mainly a travel writer: I remember some friends of mine referring to “In Patagonia” and “What am I doing here” as great travel literature. When I found “On the black hill” on the shelves of one of my favorite used book stores I realized that he wrote fiction as well.<br />
<span><a name='more'></a></span>Chatwin was a very refined, knowledgeable and polished writer. This novel tells the story of a Welsh family, living on a farm at the border between Wales and England, and it spans over the first eight decades of the twentieth century. Amos Jones is a poorly educated Welsh farmer who gets married to Mary, a lady who’s recently returned to the UK after spending many years in Imperial India. They have two twin babies, Lewis and Benjamin, who are connected in some sort of telepathic way. Lewis is an alpha male, while his brother is the cleverer one.
By following the vicissitudes of the Joneses, Chatwin tells us about the lifestyle and cultural aspects of that area. And it is quite surprising to find out how life in this rural corner of one of the most developed countries in the world could be hard and primitive until just a few years ago.<br />
Chatwin’s prose is not a very easy read, so full of rare terms, names of places, birds and plants, so do not expect to just merrily skid through the 250 pages of the novel. Nonetheless, it is a book that will leave a clear mark on your memory.</span><br />
<br /><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-23535804732916258462024-02-06T17:44:00.001+07:002024-02-06T17:54:51.506+07:00M@mm@Mi@1234<span style="font-family: arial;">If you can remember your password<br />
You got a bad password.<br />
If you find this funny<br />
You got only bad passwords.</span><br />
<br />Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-25074627214419408582024-02-02T22:45:00.002+07:002024-02-02T22:51:21.216+07:00The namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri<span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5YisxVx9Cm6CX4mkmxkyWQCanI9Q5_uXZ_UA_GePCGC2GDQAs9h9keU_3PcTiWDla5qt_Rrfd1u_8KTKAVwZagFqmlUiY1ShbcNcr3uCmhyphenhyphentJxMlq1iPzj3A5FWuoKkDUN-WCAQh1qRzAOcjnTWx8qBedjBEGuuc7XglAiS0qwF2S5abC9Ak7GLrbxc/s1829/the_namesake_jhumpa_lahiri.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1829" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5YisxVx9Cm6CX4mkmxkyWQCanI9Q5_uXZ_UA_GePCGC2GDQAs9h9keU_3PcTiWDla5qt_Rrfd1u_8KTKAVwZagFqmlUiY1ShbcNcr3uCmhyphenhyphentJxMlq1iPzj3A5FWuoKkDUN-WCAQh1qRzAOcjnTWx8qBedjBEGuuc7XglAiS0qwF2S5abC9Ak7GLrbxc/s320/the_namesake_jhumpa_lahiri.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />We’ve already met this outstanding Indian-American female writer when we talked about her debut work: the short-story collection “<a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2023/02/interpreter-of-maladies-jhumpa-lahiri.html">The interpreter of maladies</a>”. <br />
“The namesake” is a novel that deals with the life of an American born Indian guy, who is named Gogol, after the great Russian author, for reasons related to his father’s past. <span><a name='more'></a></span>The naming procedure in Bengali tradition is more complicated than the one we use in the West, and it will trigger a sequence of events that will bind the protagonist to a name that he learns to despise, and to a part of his family history that he will get to know only when he is an adult. <br />
Jhumpa Lahiri’s skills for mood visualization and her passion for non irrelevant details greatly empowers her prose and provides a sort of <i>pleasant melancholy</i> feeling that takes us through the various phases of Gogol’s story. <br />
I will definitely look for more of her books.</span>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-77165935942552424982024-01-17T20:38:00.000+07:002024-01-17T20:43:06.852+07:00The great philosophers: from Socrates to Turing - Edited by Ray Monk and Frederic Raphael<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVuarpZWxvl7dwccdcf2WkKkOKDDv9RJQoBYRNPsEbDongs6-XWpm7mw7IhNgIh67GSD4dShEQUdSoMbwMMbkaYO4awmbNEY11MzKzYvZ9Q41RI-RCnCbeeWjurSGthAJEfHBFjIsvdsUZBnJdNCyCFaTvhi36_Rag1j9qrBvjQtT6NNYLF7iOMmPpx8/s1000/the_great_philosophers_ray_monk_frederic_raphael_1.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="647" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVuarpZWxvl7dwccdcf2WkKkOKDDv9RJQoBYRNPsEbDongs6-XWpm7mw7IhNgIh67GSD4dShEQUdSoMbwMMbkaYO4awmbNEY11MzKzYvZ9Q41RI-RCnCbeeWjurSGthAJEfHBFjIsvdsUZBnJdNCyCFaTvhi36_Rag1j9qrBvjQtT6NNYLF7iOMmPpx8/s320/the_great_philosophers_ray_monk_frederic_raphael_1.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />When I was a restless and immature high school student, I used to ignore my philosophy professor’s lectures while talking about silly topics with my classmates or doing the hell knows what. Most of the time, at least. Yet, something managed to sink in and the spark of curiosity ignited by that great teacher has never died. Ever since that confused phase of my life, I’ve tried to fill the gap by reading textbooks such as <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2022/03/a-history-of-western-philosophy-betrand.html" target="_blank">Russel’s “History of philosophy” and Gaarder’s “Sophie’s world”</a> or some works by the most prominent western and eastern thinkers.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a collection of essays by various authors that were originally published as separate monographs. Each chapter is about a different thinker and deals with a specific aspect of their work.<br />My take below. <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The greatest: Plato. The most disruptive: Descartes. The most beautiful: Spinoza. The most revolutionary: Marx. The most clarifying: Wittgenstein and Popper. The most surprising: Turing. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I read them all but one could also pick just the ones they are interested in. It’s not an extremely easy read but your effort will definitely be rewarded. </span><br /><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-56666126221864081042024-01-01T22:44:00.005+07:002024-01-04T17:26:38.920+07:00The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a very short introduction - Martin Bunton<span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjza55gtW-btQ3RJkTuDHAOHqShrqe-1FruN869HYrAEzBUsf8u_1yWcsqWZu__Rvfumbkh-IYNC62a_r95fsgAlOlNDTjgXJQRRLZEWIwcvOwb3YMwH65mzpfVg0PPMFZLSdWcGhGs-bPgEeOLUeodgMWMbvUwj5ZNBz3o5fgBOfBGhLA1rEImxX6JazU/s1000/the_palestinian_israeli_conflict_martin_bunton.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="646" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjza55gtW-btQ3RJkTuDHAOHqShrqe-1FruN869HYrAEzBUsf8u_1yWcsqWZu__Rvfumbkh-IYNC62a_r95fsgAlOlNDTjgXJQRRLZEWIwcvOwb3YMwH65mzpfVg0PPMFZLSdWcGhGs-bPgEeOLUeodgMWMbvUwj5ZNBz3o5fgBOfBGhLA1rEImxX6JazU/s320/the_palestinian_israeli_conflict_martin_bunton.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />I found this short essay on the shelves of a very nice second hand book shop in Pattaya, of all places!
It’s a very useful overview on a conflict whose causes are very old and intricate, academic style but easy to read, free of all the irritating and confusing biased nuances typical of those media outlets that tend to support one side, for genuine or dubious reasons.
It starts telling us about the Ottoman Empire land reform that lead to the centralization of most of the agriculturally interesting areas in the hands of some Muslim prominent families.
<span><a name='more'></a></span>It proceeds with the birth of the Zionist movement, the first waves of Jewish migrants who landed in Palestine at the turn of the 20th century, the various dynamics of Jewish land appropriation, the Palestinian general strikes and uprisings and the first skirmishes during the British mandate. Then it covers the birth of the State of Israel, the Arab neighboring countries military intervention and the first all out war. It continues with the subsequent conflicts, the Suez Canal crisis, the 6-day and the Yom Kippur wars until the most recent events, including the rising of the PLO, the Lebanon war, the Intifadas, the birth of Hamas and the so far unsuccessful peace process.
I bet that most of those who support one of the two sides and think they have it all very clear don’t know at least half of the crucial stuff included in this little book.
It’s a very short and interesting read, about one of the most important geopolitical issues of our time. Definitely recommended.</span>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-37003596704028091742023-12-26T20:16:00.004+07:002023-12-26T20:18:08.834+07:00Papyrus, the invention of books in the ancient world - Irene Vallejo<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0YpfQ1C8yoqX46UsS_jG01X-Uvo84OQG6-QLH9iBNJhQQXUBiKlJ3MriiALOf4WCFiMfTVQs9kxMHUii5zgD57aT0fhfvKqX0J9yKMFtEXXcTETq4Y_JG-vwdL4YAQ3yoZkF3uabf0zAiwM1Bj5Gwu1bFMMo_MIV8OLQ9V5NY_CbxiTZDTYf665y1a8/s279/papyrus_irene_vallejo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0YpfQ1C8yoqX46UsS_jG01X-Uvo84OQG6-QLH9iBNJhQQXUBiKlJ3MriiALOf4WCFiMfTVQs9kxMHUii5zgD57aT0fhfvKqX0J9yKMFtEXXcTETq4Y_JG-vwdL4YAQ3yoZkF3uabf0zAiwM1Bj5Gwu1bFMMo_MIV8OLQ9V5NY_CbxiTZDTYf665y1a8/s1600/papyrus_irene_vallejo.jpg" width="181" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />This gem is a book about…books. The history of books, from a physical and literary point of view. From when the ancient oral stories were first fixed on tablets to the invention of papyrus (hence the title) and parchment, the advent of paper and the current day digital era. From manually copied texts to the printing press revolution.
<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">It reminds us of the miraculous sequence of events that has brought to our shelves the few ancient texts that have managed to survive, and of the vast quantity of works that went lost in the process.
It tells the story of libraries - the Alexandria one being the obvious superstar - and of reading styles. You’ll find out for example that silence reading is surprisingly a relatively new trend.
It is a beautiful work of academic research and a personal story as well. That of a girl who was mocked by his classmates because she was too…bookish, and managed to become a prominent and famous historian and philologist.
If you love books you must like this one.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-90774429373576509832023-12-10T19:40:00.002+07:002024-02-02T23:04:15.435+07:00The praise of folly - Erasmus of Rotterdam<span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQm0cmr_FzJvw7TlAQICqYQ6CpEhtrVbiT30S_YvV6DRG3M1BP3LpRKG6PiHRj2YJc_3IB1Zk9wrmqA3TkLCzQBxCSkUSNdLiwHbHp9tgvpub43lR3dlX2fwBtoOxhUNVUAlBjv_P91R7LCgAO2jnAiJpzf78yOQ2334S4yBVK-sksPBzECBVJLDBMxHo/s279/the_praise_of_folly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="180" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQm0cmr_FzJvw7TlAQICqYQ6CpEhtrVbiT30S_YvV6DRG3M1BP3LpRKG6PiHRj2YJc_3IB1Zk9wrmqA3TkLCzQBxCSkUSNdLiwHbHp9tgvpub43lR3dlX2fwBtoOxhUNVUAlBjv_P91R7LCgAO2jnAiJpzf78yOQ2334S4yBVK-sksPBzECBVJLDBMxHo/s1600/the_praise_of_folly.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br />I’ve been having this book on my reading list since I was a student. I finally checked it off.
It’s a very ironic, yet extremely disruptive text written by this Dutch renaissance intellectual at the beginning of the 16th century. It targets superstitions, common ideas and attitudes of a wide share of society, and it’s particularly sharp against theologians in genearal and the Catholic Church more specifically. <span><a name='more'></a></span>Written just before the start of the Christian reformation, it is said to have at least partly inspired it.
The narrator is folly itself, which of course expresses some of the most interesting ideas of the author. Views that he shares with the English thinker Thomas More, a friend of his who is mentioned by name in the book.
Like few other books - i.e. Machiavelli “The prince” - this is still an interesting and engaging read 500 years after its publication.</span>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-90075755612325497722023-11-06T17:41:00.002+07:002024-01-04T17:36:58.617+07:00The Ides of March (Idi di marzo) - Valerio Massimo Manfredi<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjuIIv8-AqkNzfMEBOMYRvcRuKvb9-665HRrGPvn7nCSVMCp4mbUbiNXpoD_HcnAG90UIXR01GXcQoUuMNKYc05QdyKfDxCku2KkK1VOocqOS4p-Hw-5_C8Y0FwKR1oGcN3hkoI709XLCrGj_xBg63JiChEoLEbuY2pQXhsKyLd3WgiQk5te3dvvcEo0/s1000/the_ides_of_march_valerio_massimo_manfredi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="635" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjuIIv8-AqkNzfMEBOMYRvcRuKvb9-665HRrGPvn7nCSVMCp4mbUbiNXpoD_HcnAG90UIXR01GXcQoUuMNKYc05QdyKfDxCku2KkK1VOocqOS4p-Hw-5_C8Y0FwKR1oGcN3hkoI709XLCrGj_xBg63JiChEoLEbuY2pQXhsKyLd3WgiQk5te3dvvcEo0/s320/the_ides_of_march_valerio_massimo_manfredi.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DhgF7eGfaaQVpqIeihz-o9gtehiv2GXuwO4EPY28Mjq8eU-2CV8B950RbzYW8VgNSQn6bILGh4oUkZWWe79VSlzSW1O48sbES0QvBT8w6_CgiY4Br2pKpVmNGYWl-h9gPPcM9EkF_J5bvrwmB0oPTjHS8J7QWCvRn-TDkzIzNZ6x_H8y3Jw9pvYmgto/s1100/idi_di_marzo_valerio_massimo_manfredi.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="749" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DhgF7eGfaaQVpqIeihz-o9gtehiv2GXuwO4EPY28Mjq8eU-2CV8B950RbzYW8VgNSQn6bILGh4oUkZWWe79VSlzSW1O48sbES0QvBT8w6_CgiY4Br2pKpVmNGYWl-h9gPPcM9EkF_J5bvrwmB0oPTjHS8J7QWCvRn-TDkzIzNZ6x_H8y3Jw9pvYmgto/s320/idi_di_marzo_valerio_massimo_manfredi.png" width="218" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I knew about the topic of this book from my high school years. I don’t know how many times I had to translate some of Caesar’s and Cicero’s passages as part of my Latin classes. Yet, reading <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/search?q=Valerio+Massimo+Manfredi" target="_blank">Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s</a> version of the events that lead to Caesar’s assassination - enriched by details, characters’ insights and cultural references - was a real pleasure.<br />As usual, Manfredi’s books combine the competence of an expert and the skills of a talented novelist. A good way to learn history, especially if you are not keen on reading specialized textbooks.<br />The story: Caius Julius Caesar has recently pacified the state. <span><a name='more'></a></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">He defeated his fiercest opponents, pardoned many of his foes and refused to be crowned king, a move that would have exposed him as a despicable tyrant. Yet, the freedom and social rights enjoyed by the citizens during the Republican era are gone. A good share of the population, including some of the most respectable senators, are not happy with the new situation and are planning their revenge. The leaders of the conspiracy are two of those Caesar’s enemies that were pardoned by him: Brutus and Cassius. Cicero, the great orator, who a few years earlier had managed to neutralize Catiline’s coup attempt, is on the side of the conspiracy, but doesn’t intend to get involved. Antonio, the best of Cesar’s generals and friends, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as of late </span><span style="font-family: arial;">has had an ambiguous attitude. In the background a multitude of spies, soldiers and messengers are racing against time in order to back up either side.<br />Although we already know the final outcome, the author manages to keep up thrilled to the very last page.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-34223918287424765122023-11-02T17:09:00.005+07:002023-11-02T17:30:47.932+07:00Theorem (Teorema) - Pier Paolo Pasolini<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0BHAAvqxDFiF8iBZNs3aXUjECD0Ku0NyRkEvSDJqPHyiF1TATzRmpaZWWwoTRrWPrKzWmT3zV_EwoTKgqeaA-CcMK-uSxvIkYo9-KNWP4d8WixkitNxdjLT2RwRQoJz97Dasjb5LiPMS1Pxcfk7q4hWjB9hXO62fpSMNdz-cjtKM_ItoYCId1Gk2a5U/s1500/theorem%20-%20pier%20paolo%20pasolini.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="938" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0BHAAvqxDFiF8iBZNs3aXUjECD0Ku0NyRkEvSDJqPHyiF1TATzRmpaZWWwoTRrWPrKzWmT3zV_EwoTKgqeaA-CcMK-uSxvIkYo9-KNWP4d8WixkitNxdjLT2RwRQoJz97Dasjb5LiPMS1Pxcfk7q4hWjB9hXO62fpSMNdz-cjtKM_ItoYCId1Gk2a5U/s320/theorem%20-%20pier%20paolo%20pasolini.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGuDH-DKLwhzXRqc-aABDZ_8Ic4OmhLUP0OhAPJOWgveWfsNwCjEHpGZJfOq5IkDPYHlXkD4HRgZpTmhye31p2fg3csm4-cW7Be3bDRv_D61QyLQIafPiiT7cCj0vJJN3HMs4qwy6FTWFmd1NU1PhN-0NSR6JKX7NUtw9uPB0S1hm8ExYxAv7b8DbnN0/s843/teorema%20-%20pier%20paolo%20pasolini.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGuDH-DKLwhzXRqc-aABDZ_8Ic4OmhLUP0OhAPJOWgveWfsNwCjEHpGZJfOq5IkDPYHlXkD4HRgZpTmhye31p2fg3csm4-cW7Be3bDRv_D61QyLQIafPiiT7cCj0vJJN3HMs4qwy6FTWFmd1NU1PhN-0NSR6JKX7NUtw9uPB0S1hm8ExYxAv7b8DbnN0/s320/teorema%20-%20pier%20paolo%20pasolini.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><p><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/search?q=pasolini" target="_blank">Pier Paolo Pasolini</a> wrote this book and directed a movie with the same title. However neither the movie is based on the book nor the other way around. They were written at the same time: two sides of the same coin, or - like the author himself likes to say - two plates of the same diptych. Was Pasolini a genius, you might be wondering? Oh yeah, he was.<br />This is a very unorthodox book. Is it a story? Well, yeah, but…Is it prose? Well, yeah, but…Is there a timeline? Well, yeah, but…Is there a location? Well, yeah, but…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">A young man spends a few days (or weeks, or months) at the house of a rich, conventional and conservative Milanese family. He’s a handsome, nice, polite, sensitive guy. He apparently is very quiet and harmless and yet, once he’s gone, the family’s very existence is turned upside down - they are forever emotionally, sexually, culturally and morally changed, maybe even transfigured. <br />Religious and political references abound. The family members can’t cope with their petty capitalist lifestyle anymore, each one reacting their own way, while their humble housemaid will become some kind of a rural holy figure.<br />I guess the author expected the reader of the book to watch the twin movie as well. I haven't watched it yet, but I’ll do it soon.</span><p></p><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-27434020192317558852023-10-25T15:56:00.002+07:002023-11-02T17:16:20.505+07:00Confessions of a citizen (Egy polgár vallomásai) - Sándor Márai<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rwGxqyv7QAMyEvfcYNpFLVWk6KEEfnOd5CeMiYgTnCJc5Ig-UdvCY5acnfda37UFKKMQZZ05K8HvZezaRqDB8rKrHJ4Ei7l1CE2CyFO2bbrIXp7Ci1UAT9lvQuNBedcKGy1EKJvxeJzxr2HVgLIju10aGbr7R4svHiu1g61B9JVKDobSC8cAqTYlpDQ/s988/egy-polgar-vallomasai-sandor-marai.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rwGxqyv7QAMyEvfcYNpFLVWk6KEEfnOd5CeMiYgTnCJc5Ig-UdvCY5acnfda37UFKKMQZZ05K8HvZezaRqDB8rKrHJ4Ei7l1CE2CyFO2bbrIXp7Ci1UAT9lvQuNBedcKGy1EKJvxeJzxr2HVgLIju10aGbr7R4svHiu1g61B9JVKDobSC8cAqTYlpDQ/s320/egy-polgar-vallomasai-sandor-marai.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4d_1z73YWMp9oiWQ9MdJhyYdedo0XxEohhyJoY8q9-xYuLLkSbrV0jJFFOxaE-U5xG_-v4n8COVLwqObYpMIEaErEqazGK51GvqHv-30TSgaYAja82t_kHOZXCxWVmGD5fCj1FZGNqqTL2u6tcw29wxF23uqqJlVJRljfQ75Ycgkmf6OW89jH5WfECUk/s945/confessioni-di-un-borghese-sandor-marai.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4d_1z73YWMp9oiWQ9MdJhyYdedo0XxEohhyJoY8q9-xYuLLkSbrV0jJFFOxaE-U5xG_-v4n8COVLwqObYpMIEaErEqazGK51GvqHv-30TSgaYAja82t_kHOZXCxWVmGD5fCj1FZGNqqTL2u6tcw29wxF23uqqJlVJRljfQ75Ycgkmf6OW89jH5WfECUk/s320/confessioni-di-un-borghese-sandor-marai.jpg" width="203" /></a></div></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Some chapters of this book read like an autobiography, others like a travel diary. And yet, the whole work is probably neither. It starts with the author's upbringing in a Magyar hometown, before WWI put an end to the Austro-Hungarian empire. After that </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Sándor Márai</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> started to travel abroad. This is a summary of those years: a collection of impressions, experiences and encounters of a clever, refined, erudite and restless young man, moving around Europe between the two world wars. Tension is in the air. Excitement, desperation and extravagance as well. </span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">Germany is moving fast from the end of a drama to the beginning of another one. Paris is host to a multitude of foreign artists, businessmen, aristocrats and politicians, while the locals enjoy the pleasant feeling of having won the war. Italy is the scene of Mussolini’s fascism rise to power and England is a decadent empire.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Exquisitely written, full of insights, at some points it reminded me of <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2023/03/madrid-edmondo-de-amicis.html" target="_blank">De Amicis' "Madrid"</a> or <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2023/01/istanbul-memories-and-city-orhan-pamuk.html">Pamuk's "Istanbul"</a>. The only issue with this book is that there apparently isn’t an English translation. Read it if you are fluent in Hungarian, French, German, Italian or Spanish. </span><br /></p><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-87893964875688167322023-10-19T17:14:00.006+07:002024-01-04T17:33:19.856+07:00Alexander, trilogy (1. Child of a dream, 2. The sands of Ammon, 3. The ends of the earth) - Valerio Massimo Manfredi<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-urM0Mvl32OXEIAMRgoVCN5CaZKeZ5d8iacdcMbsvPnhLDvnAUfWIg00avYGNA8-SSUh_Qko-iiwcbv34WaZLlgAgu19kpEvCPj_pO2KV_Ei6zP2HmMaJK8sbgSNyxu8afwHQ7U7mBDxsgWIYcuDcH-pb3t_m4TImKoU6D1n2VN-eECMF4lglUUVLJdc/s363/alexander_trilogy_manfredi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="363" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-urM0Mvl32OXEIAMRgoVCN5CaZKeZ5d8iacdcMbsvPnhLDvnAUfWIg00avYGNA8-SSUh_Qko-iiwcbv34WaZLlgAgu19kpEvCPj_pO2KV_Ei6zP2HmMaJK8sbgSNyxu8afwHQ7U7mBDxsgWIYcuDcH-pb3t_m4TImKoU6D1n2VN-eECMF4lglUUVLJdc/s320/alexander_trilogy_manfredi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />This trilogy is about the life of Alexander the Great - son of Philip II, king of Macedonia - who became the chief of the largest empire of the world when he was just 30. <br />Alexander spent the first years of his life in Macedonia, trained by his father’s officers and the great Greek philosopher Aristotle. He then joined his father’s army as the commander of the cavalry special corps. After his father’s death he was crowned king and promptly started a military campaign that would first lead him to control the whole of the Ancient Greek world, and eventually the Persian empire, including Egypt, Central Asia and the western part of the Indian subcontinent.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">Alexander is one of the greatest figures in western history, a visionary, a man with an incredible charm that no one could resist. <br />In the epilogue, Ptolemy - one of his best friends and greatest generals - explains how, <span>soon after Alexander died at the age of 33,</span><span> the unity of those childhood companions was shattered and a bloody power struggle started. <br />Valerio Massimo Manfredi tells the saga of Alexander the Great as rigorously and thoroughly as an expert historian might do. Yet, it reads like a beautiful novel. It is therefore highly recommended.</span></span><span><!--more--></span><p></p><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-47271067717866260842023-10-11T18:43:00.002+07:002023-10-11T18:47:32.749+07:00Hitler - Johann Chapoutot, Christian Ingrao<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Gg_dKk_0iTdAF6OkiFVdS6kpAuSisU9oyxu4TQEP6PC09wY0kLs60lPP9OiXN40YHOvpJnkzpMyxRnWa4dOdix1tWQmU08-tiWlzmyU6OdHt0lDwJVSGBoxj2jmQFi1OTv3Pg8VQmmrB23MVbMa8-n2lUF0RSkDSUtwUMhcmH_HnojJAzxWqZCj7Dtw/s1000/Hitler%20-%20Johann%20Chapoutot%20Christian%20Ingrao.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="654" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Gg_dKk_0iTdAF6OkiFVdS6kpAuSisU9oyxu4TQEP6PC09wY0kLs60lPP9OiXN40YHOvpJnkzpMyxRnWa4dOdix1tWQmU08-tiWlzmyU6OdHt0lDwJVSGBoxj2jmQFi1OTv3Pg8VQmmrB23MVbMa8-n2lUF0RSkDSUtwUMhcmH_HnojJAzxWqZCj7Dtw/s320/Hitler%20-%20Johann%20Chapoutot%20Christian%20Ingrao.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We all somehow have the impression that we know a lot about Adolf Hitler as a historical figure. Even those who haven’t read any books about Nazism or WWII have surely watched at least a documentary or a couple of war movies on those topics. <br />Yet, it turns out that most of the common ideas about this famous character are at the very least overestimated, at times even outright wrong. His fame as an evil genius is usually blown out of proportion (as far as the “genius” part of the expression is concerned), and his assumed fame as a great military tactician is as far from reality as it can possibly be.<span><a name='more'></a></span>The truth is that, although he was definitely highly skilled as an orator and possessed both a great memory and a disproportionate ambition, he managed to transform himself from a commonly ridiculed fanatic into one of the most powerful people in the world thanks to some extremely favorable geopolitical contingencies, and because he represented almost perfectly a very common type of German mentality.<br />Read this work by two outstanding experts on the subject to learn more about it.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-63472169074003418762023-10-04T23:43:00.001+07:002024-01-04T17:28:42.820+07:00Esperanto - Rodrigo Fresán<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2Df0j5VISze5GB1MA6koIYGjNiLjn1Sheac7MQ222NrEtAunk6ZkhE4E9z1K5sHeRy3lTaIbAiKgIkLTBnG12OtDTmygSy8pABF3nZXDw-l2u40v0zUSDhAwh3QeRa8ysnxBRFkODB1vI96zktI4HZ5vJ7ycJSY8LrIN6RDnta06PF7t-ktdXJwMobw/s1000/esperanto%20-%20rodrigo%20fresan.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="670" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2Df0j5VISze5GB1MA6koIYGjNiLjn1Sheac7MQ222NrEtAunk6ZkhE4E9z1K5sHeRy3lTaIbAiKgIkLTBnG12OtDTmygSy8pABF3nZXDw-l2u40v0zUSDhAwh3QeRa8ysnxBRFkODB1vI96zktI4HZ5vJ7ycJSY8LrIN6RDnta06PF7t-ktdXJwMobw/s320/esperanto%20-%20rodrigo%20fresan.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Esperanto is the name of a language that its creator thought could be used by everyone, but that isn’t actually used by anyone. And it is also the name of this novel’s main character. Esperanto is a 35-year-old troubled musician, who hasn’t written a song for a long time. A friend of his and her baby went <i>desaparecidos</i> during the Argentina military junta era, while the baby’s father, a revolutionary fighter, was killed in action. A few years after that tragic day Esperanto was somehow considered responsible for his own child’s death and the resulting mental breakdown of his partner. <span><a name='more'></a></span>The book starts when Esperanto suddenly feels that the week that is about to begin will be a very unusual one. The readers are then taken through these momentous seven days, marked by encounters with a bunch of bizarre characters, surreal situations, unlikely dialogs and surprising events.<br />A good idea, several fantastic music references, quite a few original characters. Some may find that there are a bit too many unnecessary virtuoso sentences. But, as with poetry, one doesn’t read a good novel just to speed through it and find out how it ends. This is a musical novel: you’ll want to enjoy the sound of its every paragraph.</span><br /><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-10416087159047443842023-10-02T20:35:00.005+07:002023-10-02T20:40:24.208+07:001914 - Luciano Canfora<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58q49wZAFLq4vgdBVDViQ-AhyphenhyphenOfCQrimHp69Zk6cdxgBQWCWTZ5CIxJANRTIPUx7D4UtwvHmd_A4fyKmOhSahADPr_K3Kpn-ZZKVHcmnV3MSThdIWPmN6iBDlzTZpBRMzrmNTyq6iaOcepRCu7ngXhODFKmip0cMnta6kUjUXVJGlJ-FYGq9m9hsU70c/s1000/1914%20-%20luciano%20canfora.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="721" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi58q49wZAFLq4vgdBVDViQ-AhyphenhyphenOfCQrimHp69Zk6cdxgBQWCWTZ5CIxJANRTIPUx7D4UtwvHmd_A4fyKmOhSahADPr_K3Kpn-ZZKVHcmnV3MSThdIWPmN6iBDlzTZpBRMzrmNTyq6iaOcepRCu7ngXhODFKmip0cMnta6kUjUXVJGlJ-FYGq9m9hsU70c/s320/1914%20-%20luciano%20canfora.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a brief essay about the sequence of events that, over the course of a few weeks, triggered what has come to be known as The Great War or World War I. The year is 1914. Europe has enjoyed almost fifty year of peace, marked by economic growth, scientific and technological progress and social reforms. There still are some unresolved issues, neglected tensions and unsatiated appetites in the air though, and the situation will come to a critical point in the summer of that year.<span><a name='more'></a></span>As per the official version the war starts when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire, is assassinated in Sarajevo by a young Serb activist, Gavrilo Princip. Austria will declare war on Serbia and a complex network of alliances, pacts and mutual interests will turn a regional conflict into a continental and eventually a global one.<br />However Luciano Canfora, like most of his contemporary colleagues, is convinced that the real reasons for this huge catastrophe are to be searched among the targets of the various states and empires of the time, in terms of land, natural resources, low cost labor and transport routes, especially in the area occupied by the quickly decaying Ottoman empire - in the Balkans and the Middle East -, in the African continent and later on in the Far East and the Pacific Ocean.<br />Being a linguistics expert, Canfora also looks at the impact that the propaganda carried out by politicians, activists and the media exerted on the public opinion and on those who finally took the fateful decisions.<br />A very interesting and enjoyable read. </span><br />Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-82149443055010056502023-09-20T20:01:00.001+07:002023-09-20T20:01:52.773+07:00Mao: the unknown story - Jung Chang<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJU44uxFR62sJyVLCGF7fWbGpb-NIcxl1F-dXreRbbAksHXlSEY4B1I_wldWBl-eOvsVpKIpxht_V7b8pbRI4q1LWyi0mTk_b1nWaWxw4c5-eGJLXDgZWWGIQQLeg4BbZ188kZt5_enUtBMA4CXhZ7Yvzyz-czY2QEM46AZW7WtW0QVsEM-hihitA0tYk/s1000/mao_the_unknown_story.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="654" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJU44uxFR62sJyVLCGF7fWbGpb-NIcxl1F-dXreRbbAksHXlSEY4B1I_wldWBl-eOvsVpKIpxht_V7b8pbRI4q1LWyi0mTk_b1nWaWxw4c5-eGJLXDgZWWGIQQLeg4BbZ188kZt5_enUtBMA4CXhZ7Yvzyz-czY2QEM46AZW7WtW0QVsEM-hihitA0tYk/s320/mao_the_unknown_story.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />We have already met Jung Chang when we talked about her <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2022/11/wild-swans-three-daughters-of-china.html">“Wild Swans: three daughters of China”</a>. She had already introduced us to the hardships the Chinese population had to endure under Mao Zedong’s rule. <br />This book, as the title suggests, features the dictator himself as the main character. Jung Chang tells us how this son of a farmer, born in a remote rural province, managed to take over the Chinese communist party first and the whole country after that. It also tells us how dozens of millions Chinese had to suffer and die because of the ambitions of a single man.<span><a name='more'></a></span>We must point out that the author’s family and herself had to suffer a lot because of Mao’s policy, and it is pretty obvious that this book was written with the clear intention of demolishing the chairman’s reputation, by shedding some light on all those shameful aspects of his life that the CCP has managed to keep secret for decades. It is not exactly written as a detached academic work, yet it is the first attempt at telling the story from a different point of view, by finally challenging the official narrative, which - until the end of the twentieth century - has been the only available one, not only in China but in the whole world.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-32214124350700038882023-09-18T15:43:00.002+07:002023-09-18T15:43:51.365+07:00Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1-nqAozHgc9SlRkoYNeCUbMME7AoibTkGhmuF82glvxx0gXOQKHLqUGwkC52AFqeTK8kMqtXLRXg9QYcLJV6WYRm9pRpTihjgaeV4mUnjxApaxA9JIiVw1jp4SIf4JXSouyQbxUS1oGMWouPdHmsEdkkXEpSx1SL1maSyMrRqgDA9Kv03RmFCvuOzGU/s1000/moth_smoke.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="651" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1-nqAozHgc9SlRkoYNeCUbMME7AoibTkGhmuF82glvxx0gXOQKHLqUGwkC52AFqeTK8kMqtXLRXg9QYcLJV6WYRm9pRpTihjgaeV4mUnjxApaxA9JIiVw1jp4SIf4JXSouyQbxUS1oGMWouPdHmsEdkkXEpSx1SL1maSyMrRqgDA9Kv03RmFCvuOzGU/s320/moth_smoke.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I had already read and reviewed another book by </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Mohsin Hamid</span><span style="font-family: arial;">: <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2022/10/the-reluctant-fundamentalis-mohsin-hamid.html">“The reluctant fundamentalist”</a>. That was a pleasant surprise, as I had never heard of this author before. “Moth smoke” confirmed my first impression. Hamid's stories always feature some young, well educated, smart Pakistani who migrated to the USA or is friend with someone who went there. I suspect that this is an autobiographical touch.</span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">The book starts when the main character - already a slightly depressed, heavy cannabis user - gets fired from his bank job for having had an ugly argument with an important, yet arrogant customer. About the same time his old best friend comes back from the US, accompanied by his charming wife and young son. From that moment on </span><span style="font-family: arial;">for our hero</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> things get from bad to worse. He falls in love with his friend’s wife, upgrades from cannabis to heroin, is unsuccessful at finding a new job, gets broke as a consequence and finally becomes a criminal. At that point a tragic finale is unavoidable. But it will come with an unexpected twist. <br /></span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-10694759282691505712023-09-15T17:14:00.001+07:002023-09-15T18:58:13.977+07:00Out of Africa, Shadows on the grass - Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNReJtI1hMhz2_bbRfLJvDBxkCB1Mby14yWkiU6ZX3Y_zBWntn1E8ut_Js6N_ISVZ6CjhE2otVTjvK8vsD7lvIpKbhr0LHVtCKK1LzfS_LLP4qT4VU6X9C3VmgnTPFZ0yEsWQEWNK3i0GbnMXToigx081x-H8STA-R1assUrk7OaP3DSgBNHuo6XS7rAQ/s600/out_of_africa_and_shadows_on_the_grass.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="389" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNReJtI1hMhz2_bbRfLJvDBxkCB1Mby14yWkiU6ZX3Y_zBWntn1E8ut_Js6N_ISVZ6CjhE2otVTjvK8vsD7lvIpKbhr0LHVtCKK1LzfS_LLP4qT4VU6X9C3VmgnTPFZ0yEsWQEWNK3i0GbnMXToigx081x-H8STA-R1assUrk7OaP3DSgBNHuo6XS7rAQ/s320/out_of_africa_and_shadows_on_the_grass.jpeg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Made super-famous by the Sydney Pollack’s movie of the same name featuring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, “Out of Africa” contains Karen Blixen’s memories about her stay in Africa and has inspired millions of people around the globe. <br />Blixen moved to British East Africa (current Kenya) with her husband just before the beginning of WWI and remained there until the early thirties. She owned a coffee plantation where, for almost two decades, she lived and worked surrounded by various groups of locals, belonging to a multitude of ethnic groups, speaking different languages and adhering to several faiths.<br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>Blixen belonged to one of those aristocratic families that over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century assisted the European authorities running their African colonies, and as such her tone is often that of a white master dealing with her African servants. Yet, her curiosity, vast culture and tact also inspired trust and affection among those living around her, and allowed her to understand some of the most subtle features of local culture and customs.<br />After her divorce she had an affair with the British aristocrat Denis Fitch Hutton, played by Redford in Pollack’s movie.<br />“Shadows on the grass” was written a few decades after her return to Europe and included some updates on the lives of the most important characters of the first book.<br />I’ve only read the book and will surely watch the movie. If you have only watched the movie I definitely recommend reading the book.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-67554415869196979942023-07-26T18:52:00.006+07:002024-02-02T23:12:54.893+07:00The World Until Yesterday - Jared Diamond<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfljZa3UVD2TZSCRCd9X6B3vNSYuLq_jlR38s5msh_Ioc7qv6Fscz0NGiAFVNuA4hpvhGv3jHglMbl_6PBbYsiKU37sRFYxy4ZqUoTw3MzDUanv5yxkhjHeyci86i8d6GSGYB8Fs1BqDPIcipRiA22PbxpMLbPlg5svCOsk1xIZNtKYxxKmw22fmI-Pw/s1000/the_world_until_yesterday_jared_diamond.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="652" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfljZa3UVD2TZSCRCd9X6B3vNSYuLq_jlR38s5msh_Ioc7qv6Fscz0NGiAFVNuA4hpvhGv3jHglMbl_6PBbYsiKU37sRFYxy4ZqUoTw3MzDUanv5yxkhjHeyci86i8d6GSGYB8Fs1BqDPIcipRiA22PbxpMLbPlg5svCOsk1xIZNtKYxxKmw22fmI-Pw/s320/the_world_until_yesterday_jared_diamond.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><p><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve already said that Jared Diamond is one of my favorite authors and popular science writers. I don’t need to say it again, and by doing that I’ve basically said it again. No problem: he deserves it.<br />Diamond’s works are the ones I would have liked to read when I was at school. I think he also writes young readers editions. Some of his lessons would do great as schoolbook chapters.<br />He’s particularly skilled at explaining why, over the course of aeons, the world, the environment, living organisms and human societies have become (as opposed to have always been) what they are today.</span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial;">In this book he explores the difference between various types of human civilizations, from the most traditional ones (hunter-gatherer bands and tribes) to the most complex (nowadays states) and tries to select the lessons we might learn from our ancestors, mentioning also the aspects for which, on the other hand, modern societies are preferable. The areas covered are numerous: conflict resolution (from minor disagreements to full fledged wars), care of the elderly, children upbringing, multilingualism and nutrition are just a few of them. </span><br /><p></p><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-7542387346383723932023-07-11T14:56:00.003+07:002023-09-15T18:58:32.342+07:00The rape of Nanking - Iris Chang<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLU0pBZHbuVqIvC5oP8-v9H_VKQ8BzKqyGHjMyX6oSa6OztStjf96_mhvTe84T5i26jGrxqi0o-KJD0uxLZonx9eZ-PJ1vEeisBrmMcH5_lYlCRY0GPlHZLOc_9kWcvetNLmSjhXvX8LsevMzZ8P8iH6JPAx-Fj7z7ig0Pvimnx64dm1PSoYw0z4J-fc/s1000/the_rape_of_nanking_iris_chang.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLU0pBZHbuVqIvC5oP8-v9H_VKQ8BzKqyGHjMyX6oSa6OztStjf96_mhvTe84T5i26jGrxqi0o-KJD0uxLZonx9eZ-PJ1vEeisBrmMcH5_lYlCRY0GPlHZLOc_9kWcvetNLmSjhXvX8LsevMzZ8P8iH6JPAx-Fj7z7ig0Pvimnx64dm1PSoYw0z4J-fc/s320/the_rape_of_nanking_iris_chang.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Nowadays what happened in Nanking (current name: Nanjing) on the eve of WWII, when the Japanese army invaded the city, looted it, killed and raped hundreds of thousands - children and elderly alike - is a very well established, known and discussed fact. But up until the mid ’90s it had been swept under the carpet of history, quite unbelievably, given the prominence of the sides involved and the magnitude/typology of the tragedy.<br />Iris Chang’s book is one of the main sources of the limelight that was suddenly and belatedly shed on the event. <span><a name='more'></a></span>The first part of the book deals with the historical background, the narration of those dramatic days, the point of view of all the parties involved, and the group of foreign heroes (mostly Germans and Americans) who - a bit like Oskar Schindler during the European holocaust - decided not to abandon the city, set up a safety zone and tried to save as many people as possible from murder, torture and sexual assaults.<br />The second part explains how and why the massacre was pretty much forgotten after the war ended, how Japan failed to take responsibility for the havoc wreaked by its military and how the author managed to unearth all the information needed to revive the debate about it all.<br />The edition I read also contains an epilogue written by the author’s husband, an American academic, who tries to explain the sequence of events that lead his wife to be hospitalized in a mental institution and commit suicide shortly after being dismissed.</span><br /><br /><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-4772997721565956882023-06-27T14:34:00.005+07:002024-02-02T23:19:04.661+07:00The most beautiful woman in town - Charles Bukowski<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_XMQa0pCczQ_7yW717i-Tu4D1QSdMAlVXGWm9OLNClo1l2-ouoOZql6cIZH4Jn4Px9hQiUEXisFw32NGzTAr9AV0NNWOpUimkJoLoUhZ_n3Qr8acykxsu7ve3Y4k55VYGJlOjoPf2C8FIKovhqsxxPjcg6K8WpujFdLuUdOvlqbJcYqaKXQaZlFxe8A/s1000/The%20most%20beautiful%20woman%20in%20town%20-%20Charles%20Bukowski%20better.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="624" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_XMQa0pCczQ_7yW717i-Tu4D1QSdMAlVXGWm9OLNClo1l2-ouoOZql6cIZH4Jn4Px9hQiUEXisFw32NGzTAr9AV0NNWOpUimkJoLoUhZ_n3Qr8acykxsu7ve3Y4k55VYGJlOjoPf2C8FIKovhqsxxPjcg6K8WpujFdLuUdOvlqbJcYqaKXQaZlFxe8A/s320/The%20most%20beautiful%20woman%20in%20town%20-%20Charles%20Bukowski%20better.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I used to read Bukowski - translated into Italian - when I was a college student. Bukowski depicted a world of decadence, problems, poverty, alcohol addiction and free sex that could make my neat and standardized life in the province, at university, in the family, with ordinary people, among conventional ideas, a little less standardized. It was a comparison term, a paradoxical mix of a threat to avoid and a goal to achieve. I found it so fascinating. <span><a name='more'></a></span>At some point I stopped reading his stories but I guess that his message never left me. Over the following years I’ve always tried to peek (in a safe way) at that dark side of modern and developed societies that he was writing about, at least to remind myself that the life I was living was a privilege, and that good can be found also where we’re taught only the bad thrives.<br /><span></span>For me Bukowski is like a model of a genuinely free individual. A person who tries to express himself fully, careless of schemes, standards, conventions. An anti-hero. The best type.<br />This is a collection of short stories - only partly fictional, I suspect - where you can find a lot of examples of what I wrote above.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-5757690740603778302023-06-22T14:10:00.005+07:002024-02-02T23:19:47.392+07:00SuperFreakonomics - Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARoJX2IXL8QwR84cG7moE90-k7waHwvKhBrlUscyfHWihy-lwYdcBdyZ5BnbpwiG3b5GIsk9o4DB1R_9Vi2kUrCrTEcnEkvB2kU85-DGUiOgz7CACsHuwJ_a2jiEk1ZJLdz9YqP5zGVJZTeXfvKxaieAbxtO4nnbkPUD6YxuiYO0r-WvUDjOl-x7pt9M/s1000/SuperFreakonomics%20-%20Steven%20Levitt%20and%20Stephen%20J.%20Dubner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="651" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARoJX2IXL8QwR84cG7moE90-k7waHwvKhBrlUscyfHWihy-lwYdcBdyZ5BnbpwiG3b5GIsk9o4DB1R_9Vi2kUrCrTEcnEkvB2kU85-DGUiOgz7CACsHuwJ_a2jiEk1ZJLdz9YqP5zGVJZTeXfvKxaieAbxtO4nnbkPUD6YxuiYO0r-WvUDjOl-x7pt9M/s320/SuperFreakonomics%20-%20Steven%20Levitt%20and%20Stephen%20J.%20Dubner.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve already talked about the first book of the series (<a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2021/09/freakonomics-steven-d-levitt-stephen-j.html">Freakonomics</a>) a few months back. In this new non fiction work the authors keep analyzing situations that apparently don’t have anything to do with economics, by using tools that are normally handled by economists.<br />The theme is still the same, only this time it is expanded, explained more in detail and displayed with new examples: human beings behave in response to incentives (positive or negative). Basically when we do or say something we are always trying to get some gain or avoid some loss, not necessarily tangible ones.<span><a name='more'></a></span>The various chapters cover subjects such as the condition of Indian women, prostitution and real estate in Chicago, the assessment of the skills of hospital doctors, altruism vs apathy and selfishness, cheaper technological solutions to the problems posed by hurricanes and global warming (cheap as compared to the sums of money normally spent by governments and official organizations to deal with those issues).<br />I particularly loved the epilogue, about a lab experiment in which some scientists tried to teach a bunch of monkeys how to use money. In a few weeks the capuchins not only learned the principles of trading, inflation, investment and saving: they ended up gambling and staging a money heist, a prison break and a prostitution ring!<br />If you liked <a href="http://www.english.fabiopulito.com/2021/09/freakonomics-steven-d-levitt-stephen-j.html">Freakonomics</a> you gotta read this one as well.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-38095544053659394022023-05-24T17:15:00.005+07:002023-09-15T19:05:25.763+07:00The inheritance of loss - Kiran Desai<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjql48ttjLhK9V4435Qem4OX-dDGpa6SZ65reKvEmmq0sSGQVvI3N7K36vJy4qmhnhJhMn4N0pbIhJ1QYAbFzNY5EVHXoHbty_TcYZfiSDqTroXSmeBUXbKPl79Y__21IZTPCuDbhNO1rDDtXIYFxO7pg86D3pPmLWazsBrFuyuh4tTRc61Y6Y2XV2p/s2560/kiran_desai_the_inheritance_of_loss.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1668" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjql48ttjLhK9V4435Qem4OX-dDGpa6SZ65reKvEmmq0sSGQVvI3N7K36vJy4qmhnhJhMn4N0pbIhJ1QYAbFzNY5EVHXoHbty_TcYZfiSDqTroXSmeBUXbKPl79Y__21IZTPCuDbhNO1rDDtXIYFxO7pg86D3pPmLWazsBrFuyuh4tTRc61Y6Y2XV2p/s320/kiran_desai_the_inheritance_of_loss.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet another Indian novel. This one is based in West Bengal. Not in Calcutta or anywhere near the sea though, but up north, in Kalimpong district, deep into the Himalayan mountainous region, where many ethnic minorities live. <br />It’s the mid 80s, the Gorkhaland movement insurgency for Nepali independence is underway and the life of Sai - a westernised orphaned Indian girl who lives with her grandfather (a retired judge), his cook and his pet dog - is shaken by the gruesome events and the ambiguous behaviour of his tutor/lover. <br />Meanwhile in Manhattan, Biju - the son of the aforementioned cook - lives and works as an illegal immigrant constantly dreaming to be granted a green card.<br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>This is a story about colonialism and its consequences, of westernised Indians who despise Indian traditions (the judge being the main example of this category) and of traditional Indians who despise everything foreign, of Nepalis who despise Indians and of Indians who despise Nepalis, of love crashed by politics and cultural barriers, of poverty and immigration. <br />It’s a very interesting and beautiful read. The prose is very refined and polished, demanding and rewarding, bordering good poetry quality at times.</span>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5432903149886484349.post-51354005662581930042023-05-22T17:59:00.003+07:002024-02-02T23:23:09.930+07:00Lost Horizon - James Hilton<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDOdPyfyzB-fJ_LSjqImQ2XdK6gT0jp6fLx_rE68Vw0q_AhDb5tU9uh80QasiRi811EvvKXu_VJGpfSO9jkRMPFyx3Fai1LFGPeWC-BUeKOOjTp_Mkuz7M0PRiMmQRhKxo-NrE1KTtr4I5cnlzRm_iFYCZ0bTxY6a7x9IrvFaD8IuS1JY_ptO4IGG/s2153/lost_horizon_james_hilton.jpg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2153" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDOdPyfyzB-fJ_LSjqImQ2XdK6gT0jp6fLx_rE68Vw0q_AhDb5tU9uh80QasiRi811EvvKXu_VJGpfSO9jkRMPFyx3Fai1LFGPeWC-BUeKOOjTp_Mkuz7M0PRiMmQRhKxo-NrE1KTtr4I5cnlzRm_iFYCZ0bTxY6a7x9IrvFaD8IuS1JY_ptO4IGG/s320/lost_horizon_james_hilton.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Have you ever heard of something called "Shangri-la"? The mythical and mystical place hidden at the edge of the Tibetan plateau that has become a synonymous with “paradise on earth”, besides being the name of a well known luxury Asian hotel chain? Well, that’s an invention of James Hilton’s and it’s introduced in his book “Lost horizon”.<span><a name='more'></a></span>A group of British and American people are kidnapped somewhere in the far East and brought to a remote area inhabited by a community ruled by a lamasery. The place has some kind of magical property which makes aging a much slower process than it is elsewhere. As it often happens, though, each medal has its own reverse. Read the book and find out about it.</span><p></p>Fabiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513455384975801899noreply@blogger.com0