tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499771778569209667.post757057755330986193..comments2024-03-26T22:48:55.424-07:00Comments on Flying Totems: Finishing one, starting anotherBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590397694589547524noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499771778569209667.post-51862875799730362552012-12-05T22:15:04.527-08:002012-12-05T22:15:04.527-08:00Gould's The Mismeasure of a Man is an excellen...Gould's The Mismeasure of a Man is an excellent book too. It's quite illuminating on the history of scientific racism and eugenics, and how those arguments continue to sneak into the conversation today.<br /><br />I employ something like the 50 page test myself. Generally if I can get past 100 pages without being totally lost, I know I'll finish the book. If not, maybe not. Again, I may return to the Emigrants one day if I have time, since the prose and the thought are both good.<br /><br />Did I get The Innocence of Father Brown from you? I know it had Alec Guinness on the cover, and the stories were very good. Peter Lovesey sounds interesting too, especially the Peter Diamond series. And he's still writing, which is sort of encouraging.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06590397694589547524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499771778569209667.post-30486783702175221652012-11-30T17:54:32.669-08:002012-11-30T17:54:32.669-08:00You're right that Stephen Jay Gould was a very...You're right that Stephen Jay Gould was a very amazing man. If there was a general acceptance of his view that science and religion are two entirely separate fields of study, neither of which should make public commentary on the other, then we'd be in a much better place. <br /><br />After reading through your review of The Emigrants I have to admit I'd have been unlikely to get past the first 50 pages. I try to give every book at least that much effort (or 100 pages for a very long one) but very occasionally can't make it that far. The lack of quotation marks and text breaks would have been too big a trial for my patience.<br /><br />On the other hand the John Dickson Carr book you described does sound very interesting. You know I'm quite fond of mysteries of any era so long as they're well done and he's famous enough that I'm surprised at myself for never having read any of his books. Golden age mysteries that were set in a time before forensics, fingerprints, dna data bases, criminal profiling (on and on ad infinitum), are very cool, and yes, fantasies that can be sheer fun to try and solve. I just read Peter Lovesey's 'The False Inspector Dew' again recently and would recommend it as one of the best classic mystery novels ever written. I also must re-read the Father Brown books. Thanks for the reminder.susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747450215034568033noreply@blogger.com