Book catch-up 4- A pair of non-fiction
Simplexity (2008) by science writer Jeffrey Kluger is subtitled “Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)”. I was intrigued by the book’s title and jacket design, and picked it up at a Cleveland Airport bookshop at the end of my summer vacation to the USA. As a system analyst I often grapple with the complexity of large technical systems and am challenged by how they can be simplified. I constantly look to understand better how the complex can be made easier to understand-how to find simplifying patterns behind confusing webs of detail, and how to communicate this to people who are overwhelmed by the maelstrom of information they surround themselves with. Kluger shows examples throughout the book of our inabilities to recognize what is in reality complex and what is in reality simple. On contention of his is that we become confused by a number of different factors-confused by others, by instincts, by social structure, by scale, by fear, and others. Each of the eleven chapter focuses on a different factor, as well as a different application of the science of complexity. Some real life examples of how the science of complexity is being applied are in the fields of stock market analysis, emergency evacuation, politics, work and wages, and traffic control. The book describes how complexity can be configured on a curve, a range between total freedom or randomness (chaos) and crystalline brittleness (stasis)-- a fascinating concept. I found the book to be quite interesting.
And a nice break from my usual diet of sensational thrillers.
Maps and Legends (2008) by Michael Chabon, one of my current favorites, is the author’s latest book, and also a book I bought during my summer vacation this years. It is a collection of essays loosing gathered, not surprisingly, around the title’s twin subjects-maps and legends. While the majority of the essays literally had to do with legends (storytelling, fiction, and similar), there were also a few that had to do with Chabon’s love of maps, of which stories and fiction can be also understood as types of maps, ways of modeling places and fictive universes, something at which Chabon excels.
The essays on legends include those whose subject are books he has authored or subjects covered in the books he has authored (the Yiddish language as in The Yiddish Policemen’s Union ( my review), the Golem as in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ( my review)), comic books (another of his obsessions, and which he has written and produced some), the works of other authors he enjoys, and the state and acceptability of genre fiction as “literature”.
I enjoyed reading his various thoughts, especially his insights into the themes and subjects he has written on, and the books which I have already read. Along the way Chabon reveals a bit of himself. However be warned, as he warns loudly at the end of the book-his primary revelation of himself is that he is a trickster and inveterate lier, and that what he reveals will most likely not be the truth, but rather fiction.
After all, that is his livelihood. Take Chabon with a grain of salt.
Whew! I feel as if I'm almost caught up with my book reviews. This time around my amalgamation of reviews covers only two books, not three. I must be making some progress.