Books and Ideas (04)

Books and Ideas (04)

I read for ideas. What follows is my attempt to summarize the main ideas of books I have read.

Dictionary of Foreign Terms
A compendium of short, pithy, thought-provoking statements from many parts of the world.

Don Quixote of La Mancha. Miguel de Cervantes.
If you read Don Quixote for no other reason, read it for the abundance of proverbs uttered by Sancho Panza and by many others.

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. James D. Watson.
An inside view of the chaotic process that is science. And an apology to women scientists.

Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know about What Editors Do. Ed. Gerald Gross.
Editors today do far more than simply correct mistakes in grammar. It takes tact to encourage writers to make corrections. And they have to sell—the writers on changes, the members of the publishing house on accepting the book for publishing and, of course, readers to buy the book.

The Eighth Day. Thornton Wilder.
Novel. God finished His creation on the seventh day. The human race picked up from what God finished on the eighth day. A study of creativity and achievement and a theory that every family has a messiah. Oh, yes, there is a murder mystery, too.

Emma. Jane Austen.
Emma tries to manipulate the lives of others with disastrous effects for those she is manipulating and for herself.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Thornton Wilder.
Novel. In 1714, a bridge over a canyon in Peru breaks, precipitating five travelers into the gorge. A friar wonders why these five people perished. Does God have a plan?

End Zone. Don DeLillo.
The experience of playing college football. In one sense, it is a ritual.

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Herbert Marcuse.
Civilization and society are repressive. Why not let people use their potential?

The Essays of E. B. White.
E.B. White believes that people will want to read what he wants to write. Writes on a variety of topics, including New York City and Maine.

The Flowering of New England. Van Wyck Brooks.
Tells the story of the “New England Renaissance” in the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War, the time of Emerson, Longfellow, Thoreau, Hawthorne, among others. A time of excitement and achievement in learning.

For the Glory. Ken Denlinger.
The story of a Penn State football recruiting class. Nonfiction. It’s the story of football recruits in a major college football program. Don DeLillo catches the spirit of college football in his novel End Zone. Denlinger's book is fact. They're not too much different.

Fox at the Wood’s Edge. Loren Eiseley. Gale Christianson.
Biography of a scientist, a paleontologist, who wrote essays on nature and the meaning of evolution. Some of his essays are unforgettable. He conveys a melancholy, yet joyous, view of life. The miracles he discovers are found in everyday existence.