Carr鈥檚 book is a followup to his earlier THE SHALLOWS, How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember (2010) where the prognosis wasCarr鈥檚 book is a followup to his earlier THE SHALLOWS, How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember (2010) where the prognosis was not good . Essentially, he contended we were outsourcing our brains and diminishing its critical capacity. Fifteen years later, things are worse. The current title comes from his description of poppies. They are 鈥渓ush, vibrant, and entrancing. They鈥檙e also garish, invasive, and narcotic.鈥�
The key word is 鈥渘arcotic鈥� in that the new technologies are habit-forming and addictive. One we began using them, it is impossible to stop, and users become victims. He sees them as extensions of power, political as well as social and gives a history of how we communicate, beginning with the printing press and the expansion of reading. The 19th century brought the invention of the telegraph, followed by the telephone. With the development of radio and television, there was an effort in the early 20th century to use these new media to promote the public good, and legislation followed with the result of the controversial 鈥渇airness doctrine,鈥� which disappeared in the l980鈥檚.
Today, Google, Facebook, and all of the other apps are mostly free of any civic responsibility, their chief aim being to make money. Facebook鈥檚 introduction of the News Feed in 2006 removed the necessity of the viewer to seek out their own sites; through its algorithmic filtering provided a customized stream of posts and updates.
The effect of such processes is to speed up communication. Email was appealing at first because it did away with postal mailing of messages and provided instant contact.. Carr writes, 鈥淎s email exploded, habits changed. With new messages pinging into mailboxes every few minutes, no one had time to write or read long missives. The discursive, carefully composed email fell out of fashion.鈥�
The trend continued at an even faster pace with the coming of the smartphone and the mobile app. Words could even be dispensed with with emojis. Messages could be instantly copied, and best of all, the phone was portable and went wherever the owner went. Texting became increasingly popular, one reason being the elimination of time-consuming pleasantries in a telephone call and resulted what鈥檚 called textspeak. It鈥檚 streamlined, easy to skim, ubiquitous, and used by all platforms, whether Instagram, Tik Tok, X, WhatsApp, or whatever.
What鈥檚 wrong with all this? Reading and writing, practiced with care, slows down the mind, makes it think about unfamiliar topics. But all of this new media speeds up the mind, with little time for sorting out thoughts or thinking for oneself. It could even be called 鈥渁utomatic thinking.鈥� Ironically, then, greater media efficiency increases the flow of information so much that any kind of reflective thinking becomes impossible. People are locked into their private communication worlds, seeing and hearing only what they want to hear, and it鈥檚 all made easy.
The result of all of this new comminication is ominous for a democracy which requires a thoughtful and deliberate electorate, if it is to function well. Most of the latter part of Carr鈥檚 book looks at all of the implications of the new media鈥檚 effect on thinking. Carr鈥檚 conclusion, not a panacea by any means, is to try for a process of 鈥渆xcommunication,鈥� a deliberate effort of getting beyond the reach of the new communication鈥檚 鈥渓iquefying force.鈥� It won鈥檛 be easy. ...more
Edwin Frank, a New York Review of Books editor, assembles and discusses a list of 32 novels of the 20th century that he finds significant. He divides Edwin Frank, a New York Review of Books editor, assembles and discusses a list of 32 novels of the 20th century that he finds significant. He divides the 20th century into three personally impressionistic periods, 鈥淏reaking the Vessels,鈥� 鈥淎 Scattering of Sparks,鈥� and 鈥淭he Withdrawal,鈥� roughly corresponding to experimentation in the novel, reactions to World War I, and a grimly realistic view of the later century. But these are loose categories and overlap with novels reflecting and mirroring influences of other novels and to read this book is hugely rewarding as so much of it is a product of a discriminating and creative mind, and it鈥檚 almost enjoyable in a fiction-like way to see where Frank is taking you as he navigates his way through the century.
Frank begins with Dostoevsky鈥檚 NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, and while it appeared in the l860鈥檚, it is a key to 20th century novels. It has a character, hard to pin down, who talks about philosophy, literature, politics, progress, and in the end, all aspects of life. He is often detached and self-critical, though, of what he talks about. His voice is 鈥渟upremely equivocal and not just unreliable, radically unreliable. But real. This is the voice of the 20th century novel.鈥� These novels are off shoots of Dostoevsky, throwing a long fictional shadow forward.
One thing I appreciated in reading Frank鈥檚 discussion of these books is the inclusion of details of their lives, giving texture to the novels and making them more interesting, especially as some of the novelists knew other personally as well as through their works. The novels are by such well-known writers as Joyce, Mann, Woolf, Hemingway, Lawrence, Nabokov, Faulkner, Ellison and Naipaul as well as lesser known writers such as Wells and Kipling. Frank ranges across both novels written in English, as well as European writers such as Musil, Perec, Gide, Kafka, Grossman,, and Sebald. Included, too, are African writers particularly Achebe. Latin writers like Marquez, several Asian writers, and he closes with W. G. Sebald who at the beginning of the 21st century with his anticipates the graphic novel with his inclusion of photographs.
In many of these writers鈥� novels, a good example being V. S. Naipaul鈥檚 1987 ENIGMA OF ARRIVAL there is a 鈥渉unger for a higher meaning that the world itself seems helpless to provide.鈥� There seemed a brief period of hopefulness that came with the collapse of Soviet communism, but with the advent of the 21st century and its grim realities of climate change, poverty, wars, there is more than ever that hunger for higher meaning found in 20th century novels.
I think Frank does well in one of his interesting generalizations that tries grasp the 20th century novel, 鈥�. . . a defining feature of the 20th century from the start: it has been on a mission to find out what it is, to show itself for what it is, and to tell all t he world, and that this is important, all important, a matter of life and death.鈥�
Macaulay who wrote most of her seventeen novels in the early 20th century, still speaks to readers a hundred years later, and this early novel is a goMacaulay who wrote most of her seventeen novels in the early 20th century, still speaks to readers a hundred years later, and this early novel is a good example of that relevance. Its concerns are about class distinctions but principally about the disillusionment of youths as they age.
The title comes from a story that is told about putting base metal into a fiery furnace, and of course it all melts away except for a small portion which is pure gold. The woman who tells the story is an elderly Mrs. Venerables who interprets it for a younger Tommy, 鈥� Life, you see, is a smelting furnace, a crucible for the testing of ultimate values.鈥� Tommy is not impressed.
Tommy and his sister, Betty, are two young Brits who are leading carefree lives in Naples. Tommy has a small job as a illustrator for a local paper, and they could be called Neapolitan loafers, enjoying the food, socializing with f riends, taking in cultural events of the city. For them, 鈥渢o sit by the harbor and talk, if the day were fine and the company agreeable, was an excellent afternoon鈥檚 occupation.鈥�
Into their lives come tourists, Mrs. Venerables, her son, and several other family members. They stay on for months, and the young pair capture Mrs. Venerables鈥� interest as she remembers their eccentric parents from England. Mrs. Venerables. is a dilettante who is described as a woman who lives to capture impressions and 鈥渓et the waters of experiences fill her. Later, she squeezed them out.鈥� She sees the brother and sister as 鈥渋nteresting鈥� bohemian types and cultivates a friendship with them, sightseeing, taking them to dine, and to events. They are happy to accommodate her.
The novel progresses, each is friendly enough, but with reservations. Tommy and to a lesser extent, Betty, see a failure on the part of the Venerables in that they don鈥檛 know the real Naples, one that accepts poverty and the grittiness of day to day living. And gradually, the Venerables, especially the skeptical son, Warren, come to see Betty and Tommy, not as free-spirited artists, but as low lie hanger-on, 鈥渞otters,鈥� they are called. This attitude hardens as they prepare to leave Naples, leaving Betty and Tommy behind.
What about the furnace analogy on which the book relies? Time and circumstance have tested and melted away this friendship. Is there any small 鈥樷€漡old鈥� nugget of value left for the discarded brother and sister? Betty still clings to a slight notion of 鈥渇un,鈥� but it鈥檚 lost most of its meaning for Tommy. They have each other, that鈥檚 all. ...more
The 鈥渟ilence鈥� that Iyer learns from is found in the Benedictine hermitage near Big Sur, California. Its monastic roots go back a thousand years to St.The 鈥渟ilence鈥� that Iyer learns from is found in the Benedictine hermitage near Big Sur, California. Its monastic roots go back a thousand years to St. Romuald鈥檚 establishment of the Camaldolese order of monks. Pico is a busy man and spends only brief periods of time there, but he carries its influence with him wherever he travels around the world. The silence is always a suggestion of a deeper reality than is found in the endless activity of an active life.
Iyer鈥檚 reflections in this book are divided into five sections, 鈥淚nto the Silence,鈥� 鈥� Into the World,鈥� 鈥淚nto the Heart,鈥� 鈥淚nto the Boiler Room,鈥� and 鈥淚nto the Mystery.鈥� They range from practical matters of the monastery such as its perilous finances and fires, both of which threaten its existence, the friends, both monks and visitors that Iyer has met, his own personal struggles in caring for an aged mother, and the the truths found in all religions, principally Christianity and Buddhism.
They are based on notes he took over a extended period of time, and always circle around what Iyer wrote: 鈥淚 am not a religious man, but I cannot help seeing every problem from a religious point of view.鈥� I think he means that he is not religious in observing fixed religious practices, but sees a religious point of view as an act of living that is guided by an awareness of our relationship to death, to eternity.
He quotes Pope Francis as reinforcing this view, 鈥淚 believe in the burning death of each day, but which smiles at me, inviting me to accept her. . . not for an answer but only the courage to live with the unanswerable.鈥�
Iyer adds that Buddhism reminds us that 鈥渨e cannot count on anything other than a mind that is prepared to live with all it cannot control.鈥� So much of our lives is made up of circumstances that we can鈥檛 control, and an acceptance of that reality (when asked if he had a definition of God, Iyer replied, reality) is what we should strive for.
Visits to the monastery help with an awareness of this reality. There is little talk there, mostly silence, and Iyer writes that spending time there has changed him. By removing the endless distractions of daily life in the world, even briefly, creates an emptiness that is paradoxically filled up. Over our life spans we may seem to do nothing, make nothing of any consequence happen, and we can come to accept that. The monastery, and its inhabitants give an individual room to realize this aspect of life.
Iyer raises the question of him just writing for himself, for someone from a certain background. Do his personal thoughts matter to anyone else? He answers by saying writing about himself feels like writing about everyone. We are all part of a whole and are more similar than we think. All of which gives an appealing modesty to what I thought was a moving book....more
Berest鈥檚 novel is autobiographical, recounting the lives of her Jewish grandmother, her grandmother鈥檚 brother and sister, and their parents as they exBerest鈥檚 novel is autobiographical, recounting the lives of her Jewish grandmother, her grandmother鈥檚 brother and sister, and their parents as they experienced World War II. Four of the five died in Nazi camps; only her grandmother survived. The book seems convincingly detailed about what conditions were like during that period, and I found this aspect as gripping, if not more so, than the front story which involves Anne鈥檚 (a character based on the author herself) search for all of this back story.
The title of the book refers to a mysterious postcard which is received in 2003 and contains four names, Ephraim, Emma, Noemie, and Jacques. That鈥檚 all. Ephraim and Emma were the names of her great grandparents, Noemie their daughter, and Jacques, their son. Myriam is the name of a second daughter, Anne鈥檚 grandmother, not mentioned on the card. Where did this mysterious postcard come from and who sent, begins what is a long detective鈥檚 hunt, finally solved.
The novel raises question about how much we know of such relatives. Anne realizes that her mother, Lelia, Myriam鈥檚 daughter, has told her very little about family history, perhaps because it was too painful. The silence is penetrated, first by learning the circumstances this family, originally from Russia, then moving to Latvia, Palestine, and eventually to France. Ephraim did everything he could to become assimilated into French society, all of which failed in the end, and reveals the extent of anti-Semitism in France at the time. Not coincidentally, Anne becomes involved in this search for her past as she sees troubling signs of anti-Semitism that still exist.
The two parts of the novel that are most disturbing take place when the two children, Noemie and Jacques are apprehended and disappear. The frantic parents do everything they can think of to find any news, and then they are apprehended as well.
After the war is over, the surviving daughter, Myriam, clings to a faint hope that members of her family will be among the few survivors of Auschwitz who are repatriated to France, all of whom are in terrible emaciated shape. Finally, she has to accept that her entire family is gone. It's a novel that combines past and present, authenticated facts and fiction which fills in the missing emotions that individuals felt. What happened nearly a hundred years ago becomes convincingly alive. ...more
These losses were the deaths of close family members. , For Emerson it was the loss of his younger brother, and just a few years later, the loss of hiThese losses were the deaths of close family members. , For Emerson it was the loss of his younger brother, and just a few years later, the loss of his young son, Waldo. For Thoreau, it was the sudden death of his brother, John, and for James it was the death of a cousin, Minnie. Each responded differently, but what they had in common was a determination, haed and painful as it was, to get on with their lives, the business of living.
Emerson was at first a Unitarian minister, but he began to dismiss conventional Christianity, and found his way to 鈥渞edemption鈥� through 鈥渁ction proportioned to nature,鈥� Nature for him had a power and wonder that always included death, as well as life. He came to see that his losses were part of a universal experience that all living creatures go through; death for some comes sooner than for others.
Thoreau was greatly influenced by Emerson鈥檚 thoughts, particularly as expressed in his NATURE and as he began to recover from his despondency and depression over his brother鈥檚 death, he was able to write in one of his journals; 鈥滵eath is beautiful when seen to be a law and not an accident 鈥� it is as common life. . . every blade in the field, every leaf in the forest, lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up. Interestingly, and no reason is given except to suggest that each person is different, Emerson鈥檚 full recovery took more than a year while Thoreau's recovery was much faster, possibly because he had obviously been thinking about these matters before his broter鈥檚 death.
William James, the pioneering psychologist, as well as his novelist brother, Henry, were both devastated by the death of their 24 year old cousin, a sparkling young woman whose intelligence and cheerful outlook they found irresistible. James鈥� reaction, after a relatively short period of deep mourning, was to throw himself into his work. He would will himself to recover, and wrote in his diary, 鈥淢y belief can鈥檛 be optimistic, but I will posit it, life (the real, the good) in the self-governing resistance of the ego to the world. Life shall be built on doing and creating and suffering.鈥� He is suggesting that while it may be natural to be sadly pessimistic, the individual can overcome t his tendency by force of will and effort.
This very short work (99 pages) is a good introduction to how three 19th century New England seminal figures reacted to these tragedies in their lives, how they were swallowed by grief, but managed to emerge from it, stronger and wiser men.
![The Furnace / by R. Macaulay. 1907 [Leather Bound]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1699365518l/128605065._SX50_.jpg)
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