I was reading Michael Tomasky’s scathing review of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning this morning in the New Republic. There is a passage near the beginning in which Tomasky recalls an old professor’s question about what if our world turned to ash and many centuries later white-coated researchers were sifting through the few remains of our society. What conclusions would they draw from certain portions?
Tomasky goes on in relation to Goldberg’s book:
I kept thinking about my old professor as I battled my way through Jonah Goldberg’s book. Suppose those researchers came upon not a consignment of padlocks, but a few copies of Liberal Fascism. Suppose also that they were to discover, tucked inside, a New York Times best-seller list from, say, February 3, 2008, which showed that enough Americans had purchased this work to propel it to number three on that list. What conclusions would they draw about a society in which such a work was not only published by a respectable publishing house, but also flew off the shelves into the devouring hands of a polemic-starved public?
I’ve never thought about it in quite those terms, but this is something I think about as I pass that front table in a bookstore and see what it is that people want to buy. Its endemic of the current state of politics in our country – a state we have been deeply into since the 90s.
But I’d like to stretch this (and some will think it a long stretch, but I don’t) to say that this is precisely what the current Democratic primary is about. Its about the type of politics where the retention of power is paramount above all else (above the country, above ideals, above political party) as opposed to a type of politics which approaches our problems with intelligence, grace, and openness. Which tomes of reporting and history would you rather have these white-coated researchers find in the ashes of our society? More divided trash about the Clintons? Or books reviewing and recalling an Obama White House? I think the difference between the two would be stark. I also think the difference between the administrations would be stark.
My god I would be proud even of the criticisms of Barrack Obama as opposed to what could be written about another Clinton White House.
There is no doubt that if I lived anywhere near this bookstore I would spend pretty much all my time in it… well… moreso if all the books were in English.
Earlier this year I decided to read No Country for Old Men. Boy was I glad I did too. I’ve always loved Cormac McCarthy’s writing but this book was one of the most visual books I’ve ever read. By that I mean that I had really visualized the setting, and characters in my mind while I read it… moreso than usual. Though excited to learn that the Coen brothers had turned it into a movie, I was a little worried that their visuals would be so different from the ones I had already concocted that I wouldn’t actually enjoy it.
I can put that worry to rest. The Coens somehow matched the movie I had in my head. Not only that, but they cast the movie with near perfection. Even “Chigurh” (played by Javier Bardem) was brilliant despite the character being sparsely detailed (on purpose) in the book. The movie is very atmospheric, but not boring. It perhaps took a little bit away from the character of the Sheriff (played perfectly by Tommy Lee Jones) by not having him narrate the way he does in parts of the book – but that is real nitpicking. What I should say is that they simply nailed it.
But of course they did – these are the guys who made The Big Lebowski. They are movie gods.
Look, I gotta admit. The Kindle thing is really intriguing to me. I read… a lot. I mean.. a whole lot. One of my problems is that I can’t seem to bring myself to remove books from my house. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you. So its pretty desirable to have a bunch of books in one small package. I mean, I could still get an old 1st edition, hardback Amis for the shelf, but I could read that biography of Tom Waits on an electronic device – right? As long as it looks something like paper – doesn’t make my eyes hurt – isn’t too heavy to hold – etc, etc, etc.
$400! yikes. Using EV-DO and not charging for it – innovative. Are the books DRM’d? does it matter.. does the thing even have a USB port? If I delete a book to make room for another, do I still have access to that purchased book later?
I should probably wait till the launch event is actually complete.
Seeing Tufte speak was well worth the time and the money. He’s a great speaker and I feel like I learned quite a bit even though I had read all his books going into it. There is obviously far too much information from the day-long event to share here, and really if you are interested you should probably just go see him. Considering you get copies of all his books, the price of the event is quite cheap.
One thing I was pleased to learn is that Tufte is quite fond of first edition publications and has obviously acquired some at great expense. He had his white-gloved assistant take a first edition copy of Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius(The Starry Messenger) around the room. All our eyes were wide. So too when the 16th century first edition of the English translation of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry came by with the little pop-up pyramids which were still in prefect shape. Worth the price of admission alone.
I will point out a few of the choice quotes from the day:
- There is no such thing as clutter. There is just bad design.
- Talent imitates, genius steals (T.S. Elliot)
- Interest and Boredom is a content problem
- The principle of design is just the same as analytical thinking: Comparison and causality
- What would Feynman do?
- Get better content
OK, so that’s disjointed and doesn’t tell you much, but it was a loooong day!
Finally, I will mention that Tufte’s tirade against Powerpoint was beautiful. He mentioned over and over that Microsoft was a convicted monopoly and complained about their design in other apps beyond PP. He really doesn’t like them. I can’t blame him.
Update: I talked about the course a little more on the work blog.
Last weekend’s New York Times Book Review had a small article which referenced this excellent collection of covers from various publications of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. I love it. I have had three of the American covers over the years (I think I only have one now) but I can totally see the draw of having this collection.
My favorite has to be the “mashup” cover from Croatia 1971 – I’m curious if they actually got permission from the Beatles to use that image.
