Category Archives: Review

BOOKS: “Play” by Stuart Brown

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Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the SoulPlay: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart M. Brown Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Why does biology encourage play? Why does it stop encouraging play at some point? Should play end, or should one maintain a dedication to play throughout life? These are principal questions addressed by this book.

Brown explores the advantages of leading a playful life, and he doesn’t restrict himself to childhood play. In fact, the book doesn’t restrict itself entirely to human play, but also presents insights derived from the study of other playful species. One of the most profound lessons from the book comes from a story about a sled dog that has repeated playful interactions with a polar bear — a hungry polar bear, at that.

The book is presented more like an essay or a collection of essays than the usual popular science or pop psychology book. That is to say, it is not annotated and lacks a bibliography. The author sites the occasional book or study in the text, but it’s in the manner one would see in journalism or essays. This approach has its advantages, but the flipside of those advantages are the disadvantages. On the positive side, the author is able to communicate more freely, including the ability to discuss more speculative possibilities than one would expect from scientific reporting (with its usual “just the facts” approach.) Of course, the extensive speculation will be frustrating to readers who want to know what evidence has been produced for the proposed benefits. Furthermore, it often feels like the speculation in question is of the “when you’re a hammer every problem is a nail” nature — i.e. when one is a play researcher, one may be inclined to see play as a panacea for all the ills facing humanity (it surely is for some, but probably not all.) [To be fair, the book is almost fifteen years old, and I suspect it was / is probably harder than pulling teeth to get academic funding for play research outside of early childhood development, and so part of what the book was probably trying to do was build enthusiasm for supporting this kind of research, which necessitated talking about possibilities that were outside the known.]

The book does have a chapter on “the dark side of play.” It deals with compulsive behaviors like gambling and video game playing addiction (i.e. not people who like playing video games once in a while, but those who go 48 hours without sleep and who live in cave-like darkness to limit screen glare.) Much of the chapter argues that, while those problems are real and of concern, the activities aren’t play, not as per the definition presented early in the book.

This book does make a sound case for a number of benefits of play and for not abandoning play in one’s youth. If you’re interested in how play can help one to cope in a world of uncertainty, to keep one’s mind and body healthy, and to maintain or grow one’s capacity for imagination, this book is well worth reading.

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BOOKS: “A Child’s Garden of Verses” by Robert Louis Stevenson

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A Child's Garden Of VersesA Child’s Garden Of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Until recently, I was only acquainted with Stevenson as a novelist, but I had a powerful experience with his poem “The Hayloft” (included in this collection.) I was intrigued by how a poem written by a nineteenth century Scot could prove so nostalgia-inducing for me, having been a 20th century American farm-boy. So, I read the collection, and found that “The Hayloft” was only one of many examples that had such an effect. Others include: “Land of Counterpane,” “Block City,” and “Land of Nod.” The nostalgic power of the poems derives from the fact that Stevenson does a phenomenal job of capturing a child’s enthusiasm for play, and in that regard I’m sure the collection will resonate more broadly than just I, or even than just farm kids.

Afterall, there’s a lot of Stevenson’s experience that is dissimilar to mine. Besides his era and his nationality, his mentions of nurses, gardeners, and cooks is surely much different from my own upbringing, being devoid of household staff. But the book only needs to draw upon that love of play and imagination to take one back.

For a work from the nineteenth century, this collection of 50+ lyric poems has aged well. There is the occasional word like “gabies” or “whin” to send one to a dictionary, but those archaic or obsolete terms are rarities. Furthermore, the lyricism of the poems makes them easily read or sung.

I’d highly recommend this collection for poetry readers, particularly children or those looking to reexperience childhood.

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BOOKS: “Captain America: Winter Soldier, Vol. 1” by Ed Brubaker

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Captain America: Winter Soldier, Vol. 1Captain America: Winter Soldier, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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This is a tale of cloak and dagger intrigue, modern-day intrigue rooted in post-Cold War intrigue rooted in Cold War intrigue rooted in Second World War intrigue. It’s intrigue all the way down, and the book uses flashbacks to gradually fill in the reader on the necessary background.

I liked that Brubaker shows us a Captain America that’s a bit beaten down and jaded. Not beaten down in the physical sense, but in the sense of not being able to maintain his preternatural positivity and virtue in the face of all he’s seen and been through. It makes for a more interesting and textured Captain America.

In issue one of this seven issue collection, the Red Skull is found dead, and the bulk of the remainder of the book is a detective story of political intrigue. [Except the final issue which wraps up a secondary plot point from an earlier issue by telling us the tale of Jack Monroe. Which shows us a darker, grittier side of super-soldiery.]

I enjoyed reading this volume. It was a compelling story arc with plenty of action but also a bit of mystery. If you’re a Marvel comics reader, it’s must-read.

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BOOKS: “Water Margin” by Shi Nai’an

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Outlaws of the marsh (the Water Margin)Outlaws of the marsh by Shi Nai’an
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Water Margin is one of the four classic Chinese novels. The English language translations of the novel go by many names, but in Chinese it’s called Shui Hu Zhuan (i.e. 水滸傳.) The book tells a tale of war and brotherhood in a world in which a person’s virtue and his station in life are often topsy-turvy. It’s one of the most engaging pieces of fiction I’ve read in some time. While it’s a sprawling epic (close to a thousand pages in the unabridged translation,) it draws the reader in and keeps one reading by way of clever plotting and intense intrigues.

The story revolves around 108 individuals of varied checkered pasts who end up together as a band of outlaws in the Liangshan Marsh (hence, one of the most common translated titles is “Outlaws of the Marsh.”) Under the leadership of an exceptionally virtuous and beloved leader, Song Jiang, these outlaws are united into, first, a band of outlaws and, later, (having been pardoned by the emperor) as an incomparable military force that quells threats to the nation.

About the first half of the book consists of the individual stories of the most central of the 108 outlaw chieftains. The next quarter of the book describes their time together as outlaws and, particularly, how they repeatedly defeated government attempts to crush their band. The final quarter of the book is about the band’s Imperial service: first in defeating Tartar invaders from the North and then in crushing a kingdom that arose in the south by uprising of a self-declared king.

If the reader is thinking that 108 primary characters is too many to contend with, I would say that: a.) there are a small set of characters that are so substantially discussed and developed that you’ll be able to always keep them straight; b.) not all of the 108 are crucial to keep straight to follow the flow of the story, but c.) yes, it is not easy to keep them all straight — particularly for a non-Chinese reader who will find a number of the names quite similar (e.g. Wu Yong and Wu Song.)

I should note that the book can be extremely visceral, too much so for some readers. This intensity largely has to do with the stories involving one of the chieftains, Li Kui. Li Kui is the worst. He has a horrific temper, a blood lust, is completely out of control, and almost always turns anything he touches into a bloody mess. His only saving grace is that he recognizes in Song Jiang’s virtue something that must be followed, such that he does his level best to do anything Song Jiang tells him to and (often more importantly) not do whatever he is told not to do. Many readers will hate Li Kui, finding him completely despicable. However, there is a good chance that thinking about why Li Kui is kept around and tolerated after constantly fouling things up will be a productive thought exercise for those who can get through the gore. One may want to consider that question in relationship to the fascinating fact that Song Jiang, the undisputed leader who all the men insist take the position of head chieftain, is the only member of the band who has no kung fu. The other 107 chieftains are all martial arts masters-extraordinaire, most with specialties in particular weapons or tactics.

I won’t say there aren’t clunky plot devices and repetitive elements, but they didn’t bother me much for a few of reasons. Firstly, this novel is from the fourteenth century, and — given that — the readability and emotional resonance of the book is phenomenal. Secondly, I have no way of knowing how much the cheapening plot devices are a product of the original versus of the translation. Finally, those elements are more than made up for by skilled story crafting.

I’d highly recommend this book for all readers who can feasibly get through an 850-page novel with hundreds of characters. Martial artists and travelers may find it of particular value.


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BOOKS: “Eternals” (2006) by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.

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EternalsEternals by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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The Eternals is one of the lesser-known superhero groups, a collection of immortal, god-tier heroes who protect the Earth from a specific set of enemies (Deviants) and serve a specific master (Celestials.) [The Eternals are a little better known now, given Marvel’s “every hero, everywhere, all at once” strategy led them to make a movie based on the team, and — like many products of that phase — it was not loved.] I am usually not a big fan of god-powered comic book characters because it’s an uphill battle to make them interesting. However, I am a big fan of the story-crafting of Neil Gaiman, and this story had the promise of the heroes not knowing they were heroes, at least through the early part of the book.

I found the story to be coherent, despite its outlandishness, and I was a fan of having the heroes living under the impression they are ordinary people. I think that device created fine conditions for tension and intrigue. Still, the volume does not read with the visceral intensity one would expect of a story with stakes as high as they are stated to be. There was some distance created by a lack of intense connection to the characters and the clunkiness of the premise.

If you’re looking for stories of a hero team stranger than the Avengers, but not as strange as Guardians of the Galaxy, this may be your cup of tea.

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BOOK: “The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded” by Dana Sawyer

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The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded: A Guide for the Mystically-inclinedThe Perennial Philosophy Reloaded: A Guide for the Mystically-inclined by Dana Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Release Date: July 9, 2024

The good news is that this book does a thorough, clear, and balanced job of discussing Perennial Philosophy along a number of dimensions including metaphysics, psychology, theology, and aesthetics. The bad news is that it can lead one to believe there IS NO Perennial Philosophy, just a hodge-podge of (often disparate) assumptions about the grand metaphysical questions of life, the universe, and everything, assumptions that are usually Eastern, mystical, or both and which appeal to the kind of person who likes to say, “I’m spiritual, but not religious,” but which are all over the place, intellectually speaking. We learn more about the varied metaphysical perspectives that can be lumped under rubric Perennial Philosophy, than we learn of any internally consistent set of beliefs which distinguish the Philosophy from others. Sawyer does acknowledge that there is not a unified worldview that is Perennial Philosophy and that, instead, one must think in terms of “family resemblance.” The problem is that Perennial Philosophy displays the kind of family resemblance seen in a foster home. One can believe in a god or not, believe in a soul / persistent self or not, one can hold any number of beliefs about time, causation, creation, and other aspects of metaphysics. Sawyer does solidly distinguish Perennial Philosophy from Materialism, but it’s not clear why we needed it, given we already had various permutations of Idealism.

The book does provide a lot of food-for-thought, if often frustratingly so. The most important thing it does is lay out the various questions at the fore of Perennial Philosophy, how they’ve been addressed by different thinkers, and the crux of discord.

I did find myself disturbed by the arguments on occasion. A prime example is when Sawyer writes about students who describe themselves as non-spiritual but who enjoy going hiking. Because Sawyer couches the experiences that are had on a good hike in spiritual terms, he believes the students are wrong to describe themselves as “non-spiritual.” However, it’s far from clear why they need to twist their interpretations into line with his worldview. I suspect that his “non-spiritual” students, like me, see in “spiritual” types a need to escape the surly bonds of nature, to have magic exist in their worlds, something above and beyond nature. I see “spiritual” people as having a craving like the proverbial true-believer / flood victim whose neighbors come by in a truck and a boat to rescue him (and then rescue services come by with a helicopter,) but he turns them all down because “God Will Save Me!” Then he dies and goes to heaven and berates God for letting him drown, to which God says, “I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter. What do you want from me?” Well, he wanted a divine golden light to levitate him not some mundane solution based in the natural world; he wanted magic, rapturous rescue.

If you are interested in the various debates between Materialism and Idealism, this book is well worth reading, and if you describe yourself as “Spiritual, but not religious,” you’ll probably really love it.

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ESSAY: “Tradition and the Individual Talent” by T.S. Eliot

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Tradition and the Individual Talent: An EssayTradition and the Individual Talent: An Essay by T.S. Eliot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read for free at the Poetry Foundation

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While this is a controversial essay and I don’t accept it wholesale, myself, I would wholeheartedly recommend it as required reading for poets (and other artists.) What is Eliot’s controversial thesis? It’s that poetry should be less about the poet. That broad and imprecise statement can be clarified by considering two ways in which Eliot would make poetry less about the poet. First, Eliot proposes that poets should be in tune to the historic evolution of their art and — importantly — should not be so eager to break the chain with the past masters. He’s not saying a poet needs to be a literary historian, but rather that one be well-read in the poetry of the past. Second, Eliot advocates that a poet avoid packing one’s poetry with one’s personality, and – instead – let one’s personality dissolve away through the act of creation.

A quote from the essay may help to clarify — Eliot says, “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not an expression of personality, but an escape from personality.”

One can imagine the accusations of pretension and dogmatism that Eliot received in 1919 from the mass of poets who were moving full speed ahead into poetry that was suffused with autobiography, was avant-garde, and which was free of meter, rhyme and other compositional elements that had once been seen as the defining characteristics of poetry.

I don’t see this essay as being the map to our new home, but rather as the catalyst of a conversation that could move us to a more preferable intermediary location. I have, too often, picked up a collection by a young poet that was entirely autobiographical and (also, too often) of the “everybody hates me, nobody loves me, I think I’ll go eat worms” variety of wallowing in personal feelings. And I always think, when I want to read something depressing, I’ll read something from someone who has lived tragedy — e.g. a Rwandan refugee, not something from a twenty-four-year-old MFA student at some Ivy League school.

So, yeah, maybe we could use more connection to the past and a bit less autobiographical poetry from people who haven’t lived a novel-shaped life.

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BOOKS: “Inner Space Philosophy” by James Tartaglia

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Inner Space Philosophy: Why the Next Stage of Human Development Should Be Philosophical, Explained Radically (Suitable for Wolves)Inner Space Philosophy: Why the Next Stage of Human Development Should Be Philosophical, Explained Radically by James Tartaglia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Release Date: July 1, 2024

This is a strange book, and I suspect it will be mostly loved or loathed, with relatively few people in that usually broad spectrum of indifference. It’s not strange in its message (which is an argument for philosophical Idealism and a metaphysics consistent, therewith,) but rather it’s odd in its delivery. It mixes fact and fiction, often in an ill-defined way, and it’s loaded with fourth wall breaking self-introspection. I enjoyed reading the book, found it amusing at times, and received a lot of food-for-thought from it (but not without some frustration, particularly around not knowing which were true stories. I suspect this was intentional. Philosophical Idealism being a notion that what matters is our internal [i.e. mental / emotional] experience and that that experience may not have much to do with any external “reality” [and, to the degree it does, that we have limited capacity to know how.] Therefore, it makes sense that a book taking such a stance would eschew the importance of external world “truths” in favor of building mental models that have pedagogic value regardless of whether the reflect external world happenings. The book boldly puts its money where its mouth is in that regard.)

It should also be said that part of the reason for the book’s unusual approach was to make a hard break from the usual mode of philosophical writing, which is often pedantic, pretentious, and elitist. That’s because, beyond the metaphysics it’s prescribing, the book is also proposing a need for philosophy to be a broadly human endeavor – approachable by all, rather than the domain of an elite who communicate in their own special jargon-laden language and argue over minutiae irrelevant to everyday living. Like a number of books of recent years, it’s proposing that we need a philosophy of life that helps us live better lives, rather than a philosophy of semantics and elaborate logic that helps “professional philosophers” score points in a game of philosophy.

A few things I liked about this book, include: a.) it didn’t treat the Western Philosophical tradition as the sum total of philosophy (as many books have.) For example, it explored Akan and Buddhist philosophy alongside the ancient and modern philosophy of the West. b.) it gives special emphasis to Cynicism, a school of philosophy that is usually disregarded as the domain of a few madmen of ancient Greece. There is a chapter imagining Trinidad’s Gambo Lai Lai as a Cynic of the modern world. c.) I liked that it used the last chapter as a way to review in a way that was fun and echoed the approach of the Socratic dialogue. It pitted a scholar in favor of the ideas of the book against what might best be thought of as a mainstream academic philosopher (though he was also an opponent of the book.) This allowed the author to review the book’s ideas in a way that can only be experienced through a clash of ideas. (And it offered some levity, as well.)

I got a lot out of reading this book. If you can cope with your belief in the importance of factual happenings being challenged, you too will probably enjoy it.

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BOOKS: “One Hundred Poems of Kabir (1915)” Translated by Rabindranath Tagore

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One Hundred Poems of KabirOne Hundred Poems of Kabir by Kabir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Kabir was a fifteenth century Indian poet and mystic. This collection was translated by the Bengali Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and Tagore’s stylistic imprint is felt in these poems. The poems are overwhelmingly of a mystic / spiritual nature. Kabir was non-sectarian but extremely oriented towards mystic belief. He references the Koran and Vedas alike, but is more likely to communicate in secular, if mystical, terms.

How much the godly emphasis works for the reader will vary greatly. For me it was a bit excessive, often reading more like prayers than poems, but your results may vary.

The only thing I found actually disturbing was the repeated romanticization of sati, a practice in use during Kabir’s lifetime in which widows would be burned alive on their husband’s funeral pyre. Kabir repeatedly writes of sati as if it was always a completely voluntary act of raw passion and connection and was never motivated by being old and destitute (not to mention being societally pressured or, even, physically forced into it.)

The poems are well composed and engaging, and if you can get past the periodic sati propaganda, it’s a pleasant, almost euphoric, read.

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BOOKS: “Constantine, Vol. 1: The Spark and the Flame” by Ray Fawkes & Jeff Lemire

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Constantine, Vol. 1: The Spark and the FlameConstantine, Vol. 1: The Spark and the Flame by Ray Fawkes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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This is your basic “race to acquire the components of a multi-part MacGuffin” story line. There is a magic compass that John Constantine is eager to keep out of the hands of a shadowy organization of powerful magicians. Why do we care? First of all, because this is a vaguely but extremely powerful artifact that can rain utter destruction on the world in some ill-defined way. Secondly, because Constantine is just such an intriguing character. Mostly the latter, because the former is ill-defined and doesn’t merit much emotional traction.

That’s mostly what the story is about, but there are various seemingly haphazard story elements (probably too many for the first volume in a series.) This being marketed as a “Volume One” is where much of the book’s problems lie. We pick up pretty much in medias res and when an event occurs that we’re supposed to care about enough to want to see a resolution late in the volume, it’s really hard to care about because it’s been raced through. If you are picking this up after reading the previous series, it’s undoubtedly much more satisfying as a story. Picking up the story with this “Volume 1” is a bit chaotic and lacking in emotional resonance.

That said, John Constantine is one of the most interesting characters in comics and he’s written and drawn well in this book. (Not to mention supporting characters like Papa Midnight.) The story is fast-paced and the broad brushstrokes of it are comprehensible.

If you’ve read the previous Hellblazer / Constantine works, you’ll probably enjoy this volume. Taking it on as a standalone may leave one a bit befuddled.

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