December 31, 2011
Into The Wild
I saw the movie some time ago. Now I've read the book, or at least listened to the unabridged audiobook which you can borrow from the Desert Hot Springs public library. The main differences are these:
- The book is non-chronological, so you know right at the start that Chris McCandless died in that bus in Alaska.
- The book spends a lot more time talking about the McCandless family. I recall a public radio interview with Jon Krakauer, the author, when the movie came out in 2007. During the time that the story went from an article in Outside magazine, to a book, to a movie he ran into some resistance from the family. Very little of that is in the movie, but you get a lot more of the story in the book. They're no more monsters than 99% of American families, but who wants the details of their family life laid out in a bestseller?
- The book spent more time theorizing as to what actually killed Chris McCandless (AKA Alexander Supertramp); a theorizing that continued on to the making of the movie and still today.
- And, finally, a big part of the book that simply vanished from the movie were histories of other lone individuals who have walked into the wild and died or just disappeared. This includes Krakauer's attempts to challenge the Alaskan wilderness himself when he was 23.
One of the things that drew me to the movie in the first place was that part of McCandless's journey included time spent at Slab City and around the Salton Sea. Here's a clip from the movie where he's out in the desert with "Ron" - the book tells us this is not his real name - who lived in Salton City. That sure looks like it was shot on location, and they were shooting at Slab City, so it seems likely they would shoot the Anza Borrego scenes in the area, too.
Here is a Google satellite view with Bus 142, the Magic Bus, at the center. Zoom in and you can see the bus. Zoom out and you can see how close to civilization it is. That's a subject that gets covered extensively in the book. McCandless couldn't cross over the Teklanika River in midsummer due to flooding, but within a few miles of him were cabins where he could have gotten food. It appears that he never hiked far from the bus after he got there. The cabins were badly vandalized that summer, and some people theorize that it was McCandless who did that, but Krakauer believes otherwise.
In the book Krakauer seems to suggest that McCandless had no map by choice. Here's an article by Ron Lamothe that says he did have a map. He had his ID with him too, but the Alaska state troopers who recovered his body overlooked it, so it took a few weeks to identify him. The map he had was not a good topo map, but the Ron Lamothe says the map was good enough to show a Denali park service road that would have gotten him across the river. A good topo map would have shown a gauging station on the river not far from the bus. The gauging station had a basket on a zip line that McCandless could have used to cross the river. Krakauer points out, too, that if McCandless had hiked only about a mile upstream he would have seen that the river broadens out and becomes potentially crossable on foot even in flood.
Why did he die? No clear answer is known. In the original magazine article Krakauer offered the theory that he confused wild potatoes (he was eating the tubers) with wild sweet pea, which was thought to be poisonous. Turns out the wild sweet pea is not poisonous. When the book was published, he theorized that McCandless had gone from eating the potato tubers to eating its above-ground seeds, not knowing that there are many plants with edible roots and poisonous seeds. The tests on the potato seeds were not complete at the time of publication, but Krakauer thought there were preliminary indications of swainsonine, an alkaloid, the primary toxin in locoweed. Turns out, according to Ron Lamothe, that there is no swainsonine in wild potato seeds. Krakauer then theorized that the potato seeds were moldy and the mold contained a hallucinogen.
McCandless's body, BTW, was cremated in Alaska before his parents got there (but presumably with their consent). There was no autopsy probably because it seemed obvious that he had starved to death. There's nothing to exhume.
Ron Lamothe thinks there is no need to develop a theory of a satisfactorily dramatic cause of death that would support a bestselling magazine article, book and movie. He simply starved. Unable to consume sufficient calories to support his level of activity, his body weight would have dropped to about 90 pounds giving him a BMI of less than 14 in early August 1992, according to Lamothe's estimates. A BMI of less than 15 is an indication of starvation and a BMI of only 14 means death is near. His death is believed to have come on August 18.
The last self-portrait of Chris McCandless. He is holding his SOS note`.
Lamothe puts forth the idea that rather than simply sitting there, ignorant of his options, and starving to death, McCandless had injured his right shoulder, making it more difficult for him to hunt or swim the river.
 |  |
In the iconic photos above, Lamothe points out that McCandless's right shoulder appears to slump, and possibly isn't even in the sleeve of his shirt.
Lamothe has made a documentary entitled The Call Of The Wild (IMDB).
Here's a theory from a non-expert that McCandless was schizophrenic.
McCandless's parents have published a book called Back To The Wild.
Going out to visit Bus 142 seems to have become almost a cottage industry. Here's a ten-minute video showing a trip via ATV down the Stampede Trail to the bus. If you want to do it yourself, here's a website that tells you how.
Plenty of photos on Flickr:
Photo by Anthony Vargo.
Photo from a set by Jenna 1/2acre.
Photo from a set by DuckShepherd.
Photo from a set by ErikHalfacre.
Photo from a set by RichardWagnerAU.
Photo by mannieb.
Photo from a set by Heather Horton.
There's also a Flickr group for the Stampede Trail, which is more than just Bus 142 and Chris McCandless.
Here's a web page with a lot of photos of Chris McCandless from throughout his life.
permalink | December 31, 2011 at 10:48 AM | Comments (3)
December 15, 2011
Where's Dagny Taggart When You Need Her?
"California's proposed bullet train will need to soar over small towns on towering viaducts, split rich farm fields diagonally and burrow for miles under mountains for a simple reason: It has no time to spare." Apparently, some people in Sacramento think this is a bad thing.
"In the fine print of a 2008 voter-approved measure funding the project was a little-noticed requirement that trains be able to rocket from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to San Francisco in no more than two hours and 40 minutes" the L.A. Times says. It certainly didn't escape my notice when I wrote about Prop 1A in October 2008. For me, that requirement was essential, after having watched the lofty promises of Amtrak's Acela gradually compromised until it became nothing more than a really pretty, sorta fast, very expensive train. I also pointed out that Prop 1A required engineering so that "Trains will not be forced to slow down when passing stations." Did nobody in Sacramento read this? It all is obviously very expensive and very desirable (IMO).
And speaking of Dagny Taggart, the Blu-ray version of Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 is available at Netflix now, so I got it and watched it, and I have this to say: it is not nearly so terrible as all the reviewers said. OTOH, it's not good. I've never made a movie, so I don't know where to lay blame for actors who rush woodenly through their lines. Are they bad actors? Were they being encouraged to pick up the pace to keep the movie under 1½ hours? Were there scowling Objectivists lurking in the shadows behind the cameras making them nervous?
The novel needs to be made into a mini-series, which would give it the breathing space it needs. The smart producer would make John Galt's speech one full episode in the mini-series. This would allow those who are not fans of Objectivism or Ayn Rand to easily skip over that. Heresy, I know. But how many people who bought the book do you think actually read every word of that speech?
permalink | December 15, 2011 at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 6, 2011
The Love & Warmth Of Ayn Rand
In 1963 Bruce McAllister, then age 16, mailed a 4-page mimeographed survey on the subject of symbolism to "150 well-known authors." Seventy-five authors responded, and sixty-five of those responses survive today, including replies from Jack Kerouac, Ralph Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Ralph Ellison, John Updike, Saul Bellow, and Norman Mailer.
permalink | December 6, 2011 at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
Kindle Work-Around For Slower (or busier) Readers
When I borrow an ebook from our Riverside County digital library, I have two weeks to read it. Like a physical book, I can extend the book loan beyond two weeks, if no one else has requested a copy. The question in my mind was how they enforced the "return" date. One way they could do it (option 1) would be to add a tiny bit of code to my copy of the book that tells it to erase itself from my Kindle when the due date passes. Another way (option 2) would be for Amazon to do it via Wi-Fi when it syncs my Kindle with what I've bought and with what I may have read in my Mac Kindle app.
There are two ways I can get a book onto my Kindle (it doesn't have 3G). If Wi-Fi is turned on and I'm connected, then any new Kindle purchases at Amazon will automatically download into my Kindle without any further action on my part. Or, using a browser on my Mac, I can have the Kindle book downloaded to my Mac's hard drive. Each book is just one file. Then I can connect the Kindle to the Mac via USB. I can then copy the Kindle book from my Mac's hard drive to the "documents" folder on the Kindle. Turn on the Kindle (by ejecting it from the Mac) and, voila, the book appears like magic in the library on the Kindle.
A couple of days before my copy of The Warmth Of Other Suns was due, I got an email from Amazon reminding me that the loan would soon expire. I kept my Kindle's Wi-Fi turned off and was a little surprised to see that the book did not disappear from my Kindle when the due date came and went. This ruled out option 1 above. I had really thought option 1 was the way they did it. But there is no little code in my copy of the book that makes it self-erase on the due date.
Now today, I turned the Kindle's Wi-Fi on. A couple of recent purchases downloaded themselves, and The Warm Of Other Suns disappeared from my device. So that's how it works. The erase happens during syncing when connected via Wi-Fi.
The next experiment was to turn the Kindle's Wi-Fi off again and reconnect it to my Mac via USB, because I still have a copy of the book sitting there. I copied it to the Kindle and then booted up the Kindle. There it was, The Warmth Of Other Suns all readable again. However, when I try to view my notes and bookmarks for the book via the Kindle's menu, it says I have none. Those notes and bookmarks are maintained in a plain text file called "MyClippings.txt" and another file called "MyClippings.mbp". I'm able to use my text editor to open MyClippings.txt and see that all my notes from The Warmth Of Other Suns are still there. I think if I re-borrowed the ebook from the library legitimately those notes and bookmarks would be re-synced with the new copy of the ebook and I could access them via the Kindle's menu.
What I did by holding onto the book past its due date was to potentially put the library in the position of violating copyright. They have agreements with publishers that they will loan out no more than X copies of any particular ebook. If the library loaned out its max number of copies while I had my hidden copy, then some kind of copyright violation occurred. A sin which I shall not repeat.
But on to the next sinful experiment: what would happen if I tried to copy one of my downloaded ebook copies onto someone else's Kindle? Would it work? If it did, I'm sure it would be removed the next time their Kindle connected via Wi-Fi. But would there be worse consequences? Would one or both of our Kindle accounts be disabled for theft?
permalink | December 6, 2011 at 03:02 PM | Comments (1)
Hands On Kindle Fire - No Hype
A cool-headed look at the functionality of the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Full written review here.
permalink | December 6, 2011 at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)
December 5, 2011
Two Books On Freedom
Two books I've just finished, the only connection between them is they are about the great lengths to which people will go to achieve freedom.
First, The Long Walk, the 1956 book upon which an unfortunately renamed major motion picture is based. A straightforward, well told account of Slavomir Rawicz who was arrested by the Soviets after they invaded Poland in World War II. He was charged with being a Pole in the wrong place, found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in the gulag. We get the NKVD torture, the long train trip east which should seem harrowing enough, but it's followed by an 800 mile, 40-day forced winter march in Siberia to the prison camp. As you have probably guessed, if you've seen the movie trailers, a small group of men eventually managed to escape from the prison. Considering that heading west would only take them into the more heavily populated parts of the Soviet Union, and heading east would take them to the highly secure, highly militarized Pacific coast where the Soviets were anticipating an invasion from Japan, taking a route south was the only way to go. That, then, is the second half of the book—the journey to and across Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Tibet and even the Himalayas to finally reach India. I'm not giving away the story here. After all, the author wrote the book, so you know he survived. Others died along the way. It's a good story of determination and luck.
Second, and much closer to home, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson which personalizes the Great Migration by focusing on three Americans who managed to successfully escape the Jim Crow south and make their ways to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Until I read this book I wasn't even aware of the term "Great Migration" for the migration of blacks from the south to the north and west from 1910 to 1970.
Historians would come to call it the Great Migration. It would become perhaps the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century. It was vast. It was leaderless. It crept along so many thousands of currents over so long a stretch of time as to be difficult for the press truly to capture while it was under way. Over the course of six decades, some six million black southerners left the land of their forefathers and fanned out across the country for an uncertain existence in nearly every other corner of America. The Great Migration would become a turning point in history. It would transform urban America and recast the social and political order of every city it touched. It would force the South to search its soul and finally to lay aside a feudal caste system. It grew out of the unmet promises made after the Civil War and, through the sheer weight of it, helped push the country toward the civil rights revolutions of the 1960s.
By the time it was over, no northern or western city would be the same. In Chicago alone, the black population rocketed from 44,103 (just under three percent of the population) at the start of the Migration to more than one million at the end of it. By the turn of the twenty-first century, blacks made up a third of the city’s residents, with more blacks living in Chicago than in the entire state of Mississippi.
The actions of the people in this book were both universal and distinctly American. Their migration was a response to an economic and social structure not of their making. They did what humans have done for centuries when life became untenable—what the pilgrims did under the tyranny of British rule, what the Scotch-Irish did in Oklahoma when the land turned to dust, what the Irish did when there was nothing to eat, what the European Jews did during the spread of Nazism, what the landless in Russia, Italy, China, and elsewhere did when something better across the ocean called to them. What binds these stories together was the back-against-the-wall, reluctant yet hopeful search for something better, any place but where they were. They did what human beings looking for freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left.
In contrast with stereotypes two-thirds of those who migrated out of the south came from urban areas - they were not farm workers. They tended to be better educated than those who stayed behind. A 1965 census analysis showed that the average educational level of blacks immigrating from the south was the same as or higher than the average of white residents of the northern and western cities to which the immigrants traveled. In Philadelphia, for example, 39% of the blacks who had immigrated from urban areas of the south were high school graduates, compared to only 33% of the native white people in Philadelphia. The black immigrants tended to be "of substantially higher socio-economic status...than the resident Negro population." Immigrant blacks were more likely to be married and remain married than the blacks who already lived in the northern cities.
And though this immigration theory may be structurally sound, with sociologists even calling them immigrants in the early years of the Migration, nearly every black migrant I interviewed vehemently resisted the immigrant label. They did not see themselves as immigrants under any circumstances, their behavior notwithstanding. The idea conjured up the deepest pains of centuries of rejection by their own country. They had been forced to become immigrants in their own land just to secure their freedom. But they were not immigrants and had never been actual immigrants. The South may have acted like a different country and been proud of it, but it was a part of the United States, and anyone born there was born an American.
This book should be required reading alongside The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It's available as an ebook from the Riverside County Digital Library in Kindle and other formats.
permalink | December 5, 2011 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2011
Apps For The Kindle Fire Not So Restricted After All
We have been told that you can only download apps for the Kindle Fire from Amazon, and they are screening the apps to assure there is no malware. But, if you have access to an Android phone, PC Magazine tells you how to get around that limitation, so you can happily download all the crappy malware you want.
You'll need a microSD card in that Android phone and Astro File Manager. On the phone you select apps and then back them up to the microSD card. Copy the files from the microSD card to your computer. With your Kindle Fire, download "Easy Installer." Then hook up the Fire to your computer via USB. Move the app files from the computer to the Fire. Disconnect the Fire and use "Easy Installer" to install the apps.
permalink | November 16, 2011 at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2011
Real Kindle Fire Photos
From real people who got their real Kindle Fires yesterday:
 By Andy Ihnatko. His complete set of photos is here. |  By nateog |
permalink | November 15, 2011 at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2011
Fire
The Kindle Fire is scheduled to ship this week. Perhaps you've read a lot of pre-release crap about it. But here's somebody with their head screwed on right:
Some people are going to compare the iPad 2 and the Kindle Fire because they're both pretty tablets. That kind of makes sense. But it also doesn't. The iPad demolishes the Kindle Fire–have you heard? The Fire is lesser in hardware, with no cameras, no GPS, no light sensor, no microphone, no bluetooth, no high end graphics, no video out. It has a 7 inch screen vs an almost 10 inch screen on the ipad. There's no option for wireless 3G internet. It can download content from Wi-Fi endlessly but it only has 8GB of storage. It doesn't even have volume controls or a home button–annoying. The iPad lasts for over 10 hours in straight video playback; the Kindle, according to Engadget, 7.5. One is $500 and one is $200. So, I think comparing these two is kind of stupid.
I seem to recall reviews of the iPad when it was first released, criticizing it for not being a laptop. Right. The iPad is not a laptop. The Kindle Fire is not a real tablet. They are both what they are. You want one? You buy one.
permalink | November 14, 2011 at 08:25 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2011
"In The Garden Of Beasts"
I've recently read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City.
In the Garden of Beasts is the completely non-fictionalized story of William Dodd who was FDR's first ambassador to then-Nazi Germany. Dodd, a southerner and a professor of history at the University of Chicago, was far from being Roosevelt's first choice for ambassador to Germany, but nobody else seemed to want the job. Dodd, much more of an ordinary American than experienced statesman, a small "d" democrat, a close friend and great admirer of Woodrow Wilson, was thrust right into the opening months of Hitler's chancellorship.
Today our 20/20 hindsight is remarkably keen, but in 1933 Dodd was one of only a very small number of non-Jewish Americans who foresaw the horror of what was being built in Germany. His views did not carry much weight in either the State Department (which was mostly concerned with recovering the German debt) or with Roosevelt himself.
The "night of the long knives," which solidified the army's support for Hitler, occurred while Dodd was ambassador. He left his position as ambassador at the end of 1937 and participated in a nationwide campaign to alert Americans to the racial and religious persecution that was underway in Germany. Dodd died in 1940.
The fascinating side story is that Dodd's adult, divorced daughter carried on socially with several political and diplomatic figures in Berlin. She must have bumped elbows with Christopher Ishwerwood at some point. She dated not only the first head of the Gestapo (who actually managed to survive the war), but also an NKVD agent from Moscow, who she tried to marry, but Stalin denied permission. The agent was later killed in one of Stalin's purges, but Dodd's daughter continued to have friendly feelings for the Soviet Union. She got caught up in the HUAC hearings in the 1950s and left the U.S., eventually settling in Prague. Her illusions about communism were shattered when the Russian tanks rolled into Prague in 1968.
permalink | September 29, 2011 at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2011
Sorting It Out
This Wall Street Journal article has an interactive graphic that lists a few basic facts about tablets and ereaders including the Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, iPad, Galaxy, Xoom, Playback, Ideapad and Thinkpad.
permalink | September 28, 2011 at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
But Wait! There's More! Kindles, I mean
Let's just list 'em.
Kindle 3G (and Wi-Fi), not new, only $139 with "special offers and sponsored screensavers" which (I am told) are not intrusive and not rude. Without the ads it will cost you $189.
Kindle Wi-Fi only, not new, only $99 with "special offers and sponsored screensavers." Without the ads it will cost you $139.
NEW: Kindle Touch 3G, $149 with "special offers and sponsored screensavers." Without the ads its $189. No keyboard. It's got a touchscreen. Shipping November 21. Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.7 x 0.40 inches, 220 grams. The Kindle 3G keyboard model is 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.335 inches, 247 grams. The display is the same size, 6 inches.
NEW:Kindle Touch, $99 with "special offers and sponsored screensavers." $139 without the ads. It's like the Kindle Touch 3G, but lacks 3G connectivity. Connects via Wi-Fi or USB.
NEW: something at the very bottom, the Kindle. Just plain "Kindle," I guess. Only $79 with "special offers and sponsored screensavers," or $109 without the ads. No keyboard, no touchscreen! Only 170 grams. Slightly smaller dimensions overall. Only 2 GB storage (the others have 4 GB). It's not entirely clear to me, so I have to guess that when you want to enter text into this device, it pops up an image of a keyboard and you use the 5-way controller to point to the character you want to type. I've used this kind of interface on a GPS device and TV remote, and find it maddening, slow and error-prone. But if you just want to read and rarely search, you could probably live with it.
There is still the granddaddy Kindle DX which has a 9.7-inch display and weighs 536 grams and costs $379 with no lower-price option with ads.
permalink | September 28, 2011 at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)
Kindle Fire (it's a tablet) - Only $199
Color, backlighted display, touchscreen, video, web access, no camera. Smaller than an iPad (iPad: 9.5 x 7.31 x 0.34 inches, 601 grams; Kindle Fire: 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches, 413 grams). Promotional video here. Connects via Wi-Fi, and it's got a USB connection. Battery life is said to be 7.5 to 8 hours if Wi-Fi is off. 8 GB internal.
The display: "7-inch multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors." It's the "anti-reflective" treatment that's critical in my opinion. The iPad is way too shiny. The plain Kindle screen is very readable. But how does the Fire look with color and backlighting and video? Somebody buy one and show me.
They created a new browser for it called Amazon Silk. Info and promotional video here. The video is reminiscent of Apple's videos when they release something new, only maybe a bit less breathless. You'll see black shirts and men speaking a language somewhere between plain English and tech jargon overload, all of which is designed to make you want to buy. Their point is that the major advantage to Amazon Silk is that most of the heavy lifting is done up on the Amazon servers (one of the "clouds" that are referred to by those who want to be cool). Then your 'umble Kindle Fire sends a web request to the cloud, which quickly responds with what it has already anticipated you will be wanting.
Here's what it looks like next to a human hand. Only $199 and Amazon has a good return policy. Pre-ordering now, shipping November 15.
CNet passes along rumors that there is a 10-inch model in the works that will have 3G connectivity and an option to switch between backlight and e-ink.
permalink | September 28, 2011 at 09:18 AM | Comments (2)
September 27, 2011
Science Fiction & Fantasy Top 100
According to NPR listeners. A ton of good stuff here.
permalink | September 27, 2011 at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2011
Kindle Adds Public Libraries
Amazon's Kindle has caught up with other ereaders by adding access to ebooks in 11,000 public libraries, Amazon announced today. The service is handled through OverDrive who have made virtually the same announcement.
The process for borrowing a public library or school eBook for Kindle is similar as for other devices. Most eBooks already in the library's catalog supplied by OverDrive are compatible with Kindle, so users simply browse or search for "Kindle Book," check out a title with a valid library card, and then click "Get for Kindle." Access to the Kindle Book will occur at Amazon's website after signing in and selecting delivery to the user's Kindle device or any of the free Kindle reading apps. As with all eBooks and other digital content at OverDrive-powered libraries and schools, titles are available 24/7 and incur no late fees because they automatically expire at the end of the lending period. For more details on Kindle compatibility, including the availability of Amazon's Whispersync technology, please visit OverDrive's Digital Library Blog
The only question, then, is 'What about Desert Hot Springs?' And the answer is here. Ebooks are available from Riverside and San Bernardino county libraries. Currently the most popular ebook at those libraries is The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.
permalink | September 21, 2011 at 09:21 AM | Comments (1)
September 19, 2011
"Life and Fate"
Life and Fate (Жизнь и судьба), by Vasily Grossman has been called the greatest Russian novel of the 20th century. Grossman has been compared Tolstoy. Set amid the Battle of Stalingrad, it was, of course, banned in the Soviet Union. A microfilm copy was smuggled out in 1974, but it was not published in the West until 1980.
Now, the BBC is making the book available in 13 episodes broadcast from September 18 to 25. MP3s are available via all the usual methods.
Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant star in an eight-hour dramatisation of Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. Thirteen episodes will be broadcast from 18 to 25 September on Radio 4. This epic masterpiece, centred around the bloody battle of Stalingrad, charts the fate of both a nation and a family in the turmoil of war. Completed in 1960, the novel was deemed so dangerous by the KGB that the book itself was arrested.
permalink | September 19, 2011 at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2011
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
Grant completed his memoirs in 1885, five days before he died of throat cancer. The two-volume set was published by Mark Twain who wrote:
I had been comparing the memoirs with Caesar's Commentaries... I was able to say in all Apologetic forms that the same high merits distinguished both books - clarity of statement, directness, simplicity, manifest truthfulness, fairness and justice toward friend and foe alike and avoidance of flowery speech. General Grant was just a man, just a human being, just an author...The fact remains and cannot be dislodged that General Grant's book is a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece. There is no higher literature than these modest, simple Memoirs. Their style is at least flawless, and no man can improve upon it.
Upon publication the books received high praise and became best sellers. Today the books are in the public domain and can be obtained free from Project Gutenberg. They've already converted it into Kindle format (also free), but if you want to buy your Kindle version, it'll cost you 99¢. You can also buy it in just about any other format you want, and I'm sure every public library in the country has a copy.
I happened to have an HTML version lying around that I could have read as HTML on my Kindle, but I converted to Kindle format, making it more readable. One of the things I discovered about the Kindle as I read Grants Memoirs is that when I highlight text in the book, that highlighted text gets saved in a separate text file on the Kindle. I can grab that text file and bring it over to my Mac, which makes it damn simple to quote giant chunks of the book without any strain whatsoever. So I'm going to do that.
The book covers his experiences in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, with only a very brief history of his family and childhood and no mention at all of his presidency.
While waiting in Mexico City for the U.S. Senate to ratify the peace treaty after the Mexican-American War he attended his first and last bullfight, which he described as "sickening."
At these sports there are usually from four to six bulls sacrificed. The audience occupies seats around the ring in which the exhibition is given, each seat but the foremost rising higher than the one in front, so that every one can get a full view of the sport. When all is ready a bull is turned into the ring. Three or four men come in, mounted on the merest skeletons of horses blind or blind-folded and so weak that they could not make a sudden turn with their riders without danger of falling down. The men are armed with spears having a point as sharp as a needle. Other men enter the arena on foot, armed with red flags and explosives about the size of a musket cartridge. To each of these explosives is fastened a barbed needle which serves the purpose of attaching them to the bull by running the needle into the skin. Before the animal is turned loose a lot of these explosives are attached to him. The pain from the pricking of the skin by the needles is exasperating; but when the explosions of the cartridges commence the animal becomes frantic. As he makes a lunge towards one horseman, another runs a spear into him. He turns towards his last tormentor when a man on foot holds out a red flag; the bull rushes for this and is allowed to take it on his horns. The flag drops and covers the eyes of the animal so that he is at a loss what to do; it is jerked from him and the torment is renewed. When the animal is worked into an uncontrollable frenzy, the horsemen withdraw, and the matadores—literally murderers—enter, armed with knives having blades twelve or eighteen inches long, and sharp. The trick is to dodge an attack from the animal and stab him to the heart as he passes. If these efforts fail the bull is finally lassoed, held fast and killed by driving a knife blade into the spinal column just back of the horns. He is then dragged out by horses or mules, another is let into the ring, and the same performance is renewed.On the occasion when I was present one of the bulls was not turned aside by the attacks in the rear, the presentations of the red flag, etc., etc., but kept right on, and placing his horns under the flanks of a horse threw him and his rider to the ground with great force. The horse was killed and the rider lay prostrate as if dead. The bull was then lassoed and killed in the manner above described. Men came in and carried the dead man off in a litter. When the slaughtered bull and horse were dragged out, a fresh bull was turned into the ring. Conspicuous among the spectators was the man who had been carried out on a litter but a few minutes before. He was only dead so far as that performance went; but the corpse was so lively that it could not forego the chance of witnessing the discomfiture of some of his brethren who might not be so fortunate. There was a feeling of disgust manifested by the audience to find that he had come to life again. I confess that I felt sorry to see the cruelty to the bull and the horse. I did not stay for the conclusion of the performance; but while I did stay, there was not a bull killed in the prescribed way.
After the war he was stationed on the Pacific coast, where he observed the Indian steam bath:
The Indians, along the lower Columbia as far as the Cascades and on the lower Willamette, died off very fast during the year I spent in that section; for besides acquiring the vices of the white people they had acquired also their diseases. The measles and the small-pox were both amazingly fatal. In their wild state, before the appearance of the white man among them, the principal complaints they were subject to were those produced by long involuntary fasting, violent exercise in pursuit of game, and over-eating. Instinct more than reason had taught them a remedy for these ills. It was the steam bath. Something like a bake-oven was built, large enough to admit a man lying down. Bushes were stuck in the ground in two rows, about six feet long and some two or three feet apart; other bushes connected the rows at one end. The tops of the bushes were drawn together to interlace, and confined in that position; the whole was then plastered over with wet clay until every opening was filled. Just inside the open end of the oven the floor was scooped out so as to make a hole that would hold a bucket or two of water. These ovens were always built on the banks of a stream, a big spring, or pool of water. When a patient required a bath, a fire was built near the oven and a pile of stones put upon it. The cavity at the front was then filled with water. When the stones were sufficiently heated, the patient would draw himself into the oven; a blanket would be thrown over the open end, and hot stones put into the water until the patient could stand it no longer. He was then withdrawn from his steam bath and doused into the cold stream near by. This treatment may have answered with the early ailments of the Indians. With the measles or small-pox it would kill every time.
As the issue of secession arises, Grant gives his view on whether states actually had the right to secede:
Doubtless the founders of our government, the majority of them at least, regarded the confederation of the colonies as an experiment. Each colony considered itself a separate government; that the confederation was for mutual protection against a foreign foe, and the prevention of strife and war among themselves. If there had been a desire on the part of any single State to withdraw from the compact at any time while the number of States was limited to the original thirteen, I do not suppose there would have been any to contest the right, no matter how much the determination might have been regretted. The problem changed on the ratification of the Constitution by all the colonies; it changed still more when amendments were added; and if the right of any one State to withdraw continued to exist at all after the ratification of the Constitution, it certainly ceased on the formation of new States, at least so far as the new States themselves were concerned. It was never possessed at all by Florida or the States west of the Mississippi, all of which were purchased by the treasury of the entire nation. Texas and the territory brought into the Union in consequence of annexation, were purchased with both blood and treasure; and Texas, with a domain greater than that of any European state except Russia, was permitted to retain as state property all the public lands within its borders. It would have been ingratitude and injustice of the most flagrant sort for this State to withdraw from the Union after all that had been spent and done to introduce her; yet, if separation had actually occurred, Texas must necessarily have gone with the South, both on account of her institutions and her geographical position. Secession was illogical as well as impracticable; it was revolution.
On the infallibility of our nation's founders and the perfection of the Constitution as adopted in 1788. Wise words for today:
The framers were wise in their generation and wanted to do the very best possible to secure their own liberty and independence, and that also of their descendants to the latest days. It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them, and under unforeseen contingencies. At the time of the framing of our constitution the only physical forces that had been subdued and made to serve man and do his labor, were the currents in the streams and in the air we breathe. Rude machinery, propelled by water power, had been invented; sails to propel ships upon the waters had been set to catch the passing breeze—but the application of stream to propel vessels against both wind and current, and machinery to do all manner of work had not been thought of. The instantaneous transmission of messages around the world by means of electricity would probably at that day have been attributed to witchcraft or a league with the Devil. Immaterial circumstances had changed as greatly as material ones. We could not and ought not to be rigidly bound by the rules laid down under circumstances so different for emergencies so utterly unanticipated. The fathers themselves would have been the first to declare that their prerogatives were not irrevocable. They would surely have resisted secession could they have lived to see the shape it assumed.
Here, as an example of the tone of correspondence between Grant and the Confederate forces who were forced to surrender to him, are the messages between Grant and General Buckner in Fort Donelson in Tennessee:
HEADQUARTERS, FORT DONELSON,
February 16, 1862.SIR:—In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the Commanding Officer of the Federal forces the appointment of Commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until 12 o'clock to-day.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your ob't se'v't, S. B. BUCKNER,
Brig. Gen. C. S. A.To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant,
Com'ding U. S. Forces,
Near Fort Donelson.
To this I responded as follows:HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE FIELD,
Camp near Donelson,
February 16, 1862.General S. B. BUCKNER,
Confederate Army.SIR:—Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your ob't se'v't,
U. S. GRANT,
Brig. Gen.
To this I received the following reply:HEADQUARTERS, DOVER, TENNESSEE,
February 16, 1862.To Brig. Gen'l U. S. GRANT,
U. S. Army.SIR:—The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose.
I am, sir,
Your very ob't se'v't,
S. B. BUCKNER, Brig. Gen.
C. S. A.
On the subject of slaves fighting for the Confederacy:
A. S. Johnston had made efforts to reinforce in the same quarter, before the battle of Shiloh, but in a different way. He had negroes sent out to him to take the place of teamsters, company cooks and laborers in every capacity, so as to put all his white men into the ranks. The people, while willing to send their sons to the field, were not willing to part with their negroes. It is only fair to state that they probably wanted their blacks to raise supplies for the army and for the families left at home.
On some of the differences between the South (which he described as being ruled by military despotism) and the free North:
But the South had rebelled against the National government. It was not bound by any constitutional restrictions. The whole South was a military camp. The occupation of the colored people was to furnish supplies for the army. Conscription was resorted to early, and embraced every male from the age of eighteen to forty-five, excluding only those physically unfit to serve in the field, and the necessary number of civil officers of State and intended National government. The old and physically disabled furnished a good portion of these. The slaves, the non-combatants, one-third of the whole, were required to work in the field without regard to sex, and almost without regard to age. Children from the age of eight years could and did handle the hoe; they were not much older when they began to hold the plough. The four million of colored non-combatants were equal to more than three times their number in the North, age for age and sex for sex, in supplying food from the soil to support armies. Women did not work in the fields in the North, and children attended school.The arts of peace were carried on in the North. Towns and cities grew during the war. Inventions were made in all kinds of machinery to increase the products of a day's labor in the shop, and in the field. In the South no opposition was allowed to the government which had been set up and which would have become real and respected if the rebellion had been successful. No rear had to be protected. All the troops in service could be brought to the front to contest every inch of ground threatened with invasion. The press of the South, like the people who remained at home, were loyal to the Southern cause.
In the North, the country, the towns and the cities presented about the same appearance they do in time of peace. The furnace was in blast, the shops were filled with workmen, the fields were cultivated, not only to supply the population of the North and the troops invading the South, but to ship abroad to pay a part of the expense of the war. In the North the press was free up to the point of open treason. The citizen could entertain his views and express them. Troops were necessary in the Northern States to prevent prisoners from the Southern army being released by outside force, armed and set at large to destroy by fire our Northern cities. Plans were formed by Northern and Southern citizens to burn our cities, to poison the water supplying them, to spread infection by importing clothing from infected regions, to blow up our river and lake steamers—regardless of the destruction of innocent lives. The copperhead disreputable portion of the press magnified rebel successes, and belittled those of the Union army. It was, with a large following, an auxiliary to the Confederate army. The North would have been much stronger with a hundred thousand of these men in the Confederate ranks and the rest of their kind thoroughly subdued, as the Union sentiment was in the South, than we were as the battle was fought.
There ya go. Good, clear writing. This happened, then this, then this. He lays and takes blame as necessary, and praises fighters on both sides of the war. A lot of the book is fairly detailed descriptions of battles and troop movements. You might want to have a good Civil War reference book with maps, or you might just skim through those parts like I did, knowing how the story eventually turns out. I hope it doesn't spoil it for you to know that Grant took Vicksburg.
permalink | June 14, 2011 at 07:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2011
Kindle Upgrade Coming
Amazon announced today that "later this year" you will be able to borrow books from 11,000 public libraries using your Kindle. This will balance out the one great advantage that other ereaders have over the Kindle, I think. You will be able to add notes and highlights to your borrowed library book, but they will not be visible to other later borrowers. But if you check the book out again, the highlights and notes will be there for you. The system will be powered by Overdrive.
While you're waiting for that library capability to arrive, there are, of course, tons of free books available for download from Amazon and non-Amazon sites. A lot of those books will come to you in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you've tried reading a PDF book on your computer (you weren't going to actually print it out, were you?), then you know how tedious that becomes. Most annoying to me is having to keep track of where I've left off reading, because every time you open a PDF, you're back at the top. So you've got to keep a little note somewhere, unless you've got a great memory for page numbers.
Kindles will read PDFs as PDFs, but it ain't great. However, I actually read [some of] the documentation for my Kindle, and I tried out the ability to convert a PDF to Kindle format. With a clear text source, like you might get from a free ebook site, it does a FABULOUS job. Turns the PDF into a fully functioning Kindle book where you can change the font size, use text-to-speech, and (best of all) never lose your place in the book.
Free books on my Kindle right now:
- Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
- Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
- The Uncommercial Traveler by Charles Dickens
- The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard
- Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor
- Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler
Here's an example of a book you can download for free from Amazon "for a limited time only."
It appears to be an economic analysis of employment stagnation in the beef industry.
permalink | April 20, 2011 at 08:32 AM | Comments (2)
April 15, 2011
Atlas Shrugged In Theaters Today
Part 1 of 3, that is. Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers says:
Ayn Rand's monumental 1,168-page, 1957 novel gets the low-budget, no-talent treatment and sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal. It's the first in a planned trilogy of films. Let's hope the other two parts are quickly aborted. The story, set in 2016 and hailing the individual in the battle against big government, concerns the disappearance of the world's most creative minds after they are asked the question: "Who is John Galt?" Who's the idiot responsible for this fiasco? You can't blame the Tea Party, an organization of 9 million that the film's producers are exploiting to get butts into seats. There's an object lesson in objectivism for you.
The list of theaters in California that are showing Atlas Shrugged today. It's a little interesting that four theaters in San Diego are showing it, while only one theater each in Los Angeles and San Francisco proper has it. No theaters in the Coachella Valley have it.
A long, long time ago (I'm talking like 30 years or so) a friend gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged as a gift. He had no interest in the book, but I thought I owed him a little plot summary. That plot summary happened to come when I was about two-thirds of the way through the book and the two us had dropped acid together (yes, I mean LSD). The plot of Atlas Shrugged on acid is absolutely hilarious! The re-telling of the story like that is one of the top 10 — no, maybe top 5 — most joyful experiences in my life. It leaves you with a healthy attitude towards this giant novel. If you plan to try to see the movie in a similar state, I suggest that you should take in the late show in order to minimize the possibility that your wild cackling will alarm children in the audience.
At Rotten Tomatoes the rating from the critics is 6% (0% is bad, 100% is good). But it's doing better at Metacritic, where it's hitting 27 (again, on a 0 to 100 scale).
Silas Lesnick at comingsoon.net says:
"Atlas Shrugged" is double-feature material for "Battlefield Earth," offering a slavish interpretation of a story whose primary reason for being retold in the first place is cult devotion. While said devotees may deem the film successful at literally bringing the events of the book to the screen, there's zero sense of character, dialogue or pacing. That is, the requisite traits that even make this technically a story in the first place are close to nil. Every scene in the film is a corporate meeting between two fantastically dimensionless characters, either "good" or "bad," pretty much alternating between good/bad and good/good pairings. Cut, now and then, with footage of a train, leading to the film's dramatic climax... people riding on a train.
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: "In ideology, it is a long-winded celebration of the free market and a condemnation of big government, noticeably short on the stew of sex and self-interest that makes other Rand adaptations (We the Living, The Fountainhead) entertaining for those who do not share her political views."
At the libertarian standard bearer Reason, Kurt Loder says:
It's a blessing, I suppose, that Ayn Rand, who loved the movies, and actually worked extensively in the industry, isn't alive to see what's been made of her most influential novel. The new, long-awaited film version of Atlas Shrugged is a mess, full of embalmed talk, enervated performances, impoverished effects, and cinematography that would barely pass muster in a TV show. Sitting through this picture is like watching early rehearsals of a stage play that's clearly doomed.
This isn't loony-bin stuff: Attention must be paid.Though a bit stiff in the joints and acted by an undistinguished cast amid TV-movie trappings, this low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel nevertheless contains a fire and a fury that makes it more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item.
Mark Jenkins at the Washington Post:
The filmmaker occasionally betrays his muse. Simply by casting flesh-and-blood actors to portray Rand's stick-figure characters, Johansson softens the story (including one of the author's notoriously severe sex scenes). Consider, for example, Taylor Schilling as the heroine, railroad executive Dagny Taggart. The blond, blue-eyed Schilling has a strong chin that gives her a Randian aspect, but when she smiles she looks too human for the role.The script also improves on Rand by compressing the narrative. The movie features more than a few inert scenes of industrialists' chatter, but it moves at a reasonable clip — although nothing like the 250 mph of Dagny's proposed high-speed train.
Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal:
I wanted to give this movie a fair shake, though I can't pretend to be an admirer of Ayn Rand's writing. But the movie, the first installment of a projected trilogy, doesn't give the book a fair shake. In terms of craftsmanship it's barely professional, except for Taylor Schilling's tightly focused performance as Dagny Taggart, the heroine trying to keep her railroad company from being destroyed by a government that's hostile to individual achievement.
"Atlas Shrugged: Part 1'' is set in 2016, but people still get breaking news from a fictional Fox-like cable station and — heartening for some of us — newspapers are still sold in vending machines. Wealthy industrialist Henry Reardon (Grant Bowler) joins forces with like-minded entrepreneur Taggart to bring a high-speed train through Colorado despite government attempts to thwart their ingenuity. Meanwhile, billionaire CEOs are vanishing as a shadowy man in a hat, trench coat, and Dark Knight rasp (director Paul Johansson doing double duty) arrives at their doors.
The tinhorn film version of "Atlas Shrugged: Part 1" fails to rise even to the level of "eh" suggested by Ayn Rand's title. But with so little going on in cinematic or storytelling terms, we can cut straight to the fascinating, tea-stained politics of the thing.
Peter Debruge at Variety shreds it:
A monument of American literature is shaved down to a spindly toothpick of a movie in "Atlas Shrugged," a project that reportedly once caught the eye of Angelina Jolie, Faye Dunaway and Clint Eastwood. Part one of a trilogy that may never see completion, this hasty, low-budget adaptation would have Ayn Rand spinning in her grave, considering how it violates the author's philosophy by allowing opportunists to exploit another's creative achievement -- in this case, hers. Targeting roughly 200 screens, pic goes out hitched to a grassroots marketing campaign, hoping to break-even via by-popular-demand bookings and potential Tea Party support.
Bill Goodykoontz at The Arizona Republic also misspells "Rearden," causing me to wonder if he has some long-secret connection to Loren King at the Boston Globe or did the PR people for the movie misspell it in a press packet?!
Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling) runs Taggart Transcontinental, the largest railroad company left. She's independent, determined to run the company on her own terms - unlike her brother James (Matthew Marsden), who is a tool of government toadies and special-interest dopes, drawn comically broad. They conspire to suppress individual creativity and success, pushing through legislation in favor of something that sounds an awful lot like - gasp! - communism.They want to cripple Henry Reardon (Grant Bowler), whose company has come up with a new, better steel that would be perfect for railroad tracks. James is aghast at doing business with Reardon, but Dagny is drawn to his ideas, his integrity, his . . . oh, those dreamy eyes. Dreamy something: They are clearly meant for each other, in the most obvious of movie ways.
Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times writes an absolutely hilarious review:
And now I am faced with this movie, the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault. I suspect only someone very familiar with Rand’s 1957 novel could understand the film at all, and I doubt they will be happy with it. For the rest of us, it involves a series of business meetings in luxurious retro leather-and-brass board rooms and offices, and restaurants and bedrooms that look borrowed from a hotel no doubt known as the Robber Baron Arms.During these meetings, everybody drinks. More wine is poured and sipped in this film than at a convention of oenophiliacs. There are conversations in English after which I sometimes found myself asking, "What did they just say?" The dialogue seems to have been ripped throbbing with passion from the pages of Investors’ Business Daily.
So OK. Let’s say you know the novel, you agree with Ayn Rand, you’re an objectivist or a libertarian, and you’ve been waiting eagerly for this movie. Man, are you going to get a letdown. It’s not enough that a movie agree with you, in however an incoherent and murky fashion. It would help if it were like, you know, entertaining?
There is also a love scene, which is shown not merely from the waist up but from the ears up. The man keeps his shirt on. This may be disappointing for libertarians, who I believe enjoy rumpy-pumpy as much as anyone.
Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter predicts there will be no parts 2 and 3:
[S]creenwriters Brian Patrick O'Toole and John Aglialoro (also a producer) have themselves bungled in their attempt to remain faithful to the letter of the sacred text while moving the action to the near-future (specifically, 2016). Many scenes are devoted to dull conversations among business fatcats about the economics of railways and steel, central industries that helped drive the nation 60 years ago but seem like afterthoughts today (Amtrak, anyone?). Updating the story would provide a provocative test to any writer but could certainly be done; however, to do so without acknowledging the present-day realities of high-tech industries, outsourcing, shifting transportation modes and advanced information technology (the characters here actually read newspapers) places the action in an unrecognizable twilight zone. So does the fact that the central manufacturing triumph here is the construction of a high-speed train (managed from scratch within a few months, no less). Not only is it unremarked that Asia and Europe are decades ahead on this front, but conservatives who might be perceived as the core audience for this film are the very ones currently fighting against fast-train funding and construction in the U.S.
Mick La Salle at the San Francisco Chronicle gives what might be the most positive review:
What is a selling point are the boldly drawn characters, played by a cast of unknowns, some of whom deserve to be known. I'm thinking in particular of Taylor Schilling as Dagny Taggart, a railway heiress, and Grant Bowler as Hank Rearden, a manufacturing magnate and the inventor of Rearden Metal. Even with director Paul Johansson practically missing in action, giving them nothing, Schilling and Bowler are forceful and attractive.I'd be willing to sit through Part 2 right now.
This is all making me think I need to start looking around for some LSD again. OTOH, maybe some more decades of patience will do the trick. There were failed attempts at the Lord Of The Rings trilogy before Peter Jackson's glorious success.
permalink | April 15, 2011 at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2011
The Unboxing
Surprise! It seems to be a Kindle.
An A/B comparison. Can you tell which is which? The only sure way is to open them both up and look for the autograph.
And below I've provided an excerpt of the Kindle's electronic voice reading aloud from Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, his book about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. I had not heard a good, clear sample of the Kindle voice before, and now I recognize it as a familiar, nearly ubiquitous cute-sounding (to me) male voice that you will probably recognize as well. I consider it more than tolerable for most books, but I'm not sure it has enough weight for Tolstoy. You will also note that in English mode, it can't handle even basic Italian or Spanish.
