I came into this book knowing next to nothing about fine art or the world in which it lives. I came out of it feeling like I'd had an inside tour of oI came into this book knowing next to nothing about fine art or the world in which it lives. I came out of it feeling like I'd had an inside tour of one of the most exclusive aspects of modern culture, and had also been given a healthy tool kit with which to explore and develop my own relationship with art.
The art world has been shrouded in mystery by those who have a vested interest in keeping it that way. Because of this, the author required dogged persistence to find people who were willing to teach her about the making, showing, selling, collecting and appreciating of art.
She gained their trust by being willing to work as a gallery grunt, studio assistant, art fair sales associate, collector companion, and museum security guard. While painting walls, stretching canvases, and learning enough art speak to write press releases and nudge collectors to the decision to purchase, she simultaneously embraced every educational suggestion offered to her by those she worked with.
In the process, she worked on developing her own "Eye" for art. Among the more fascinating parts of the book where those where she discussed how artists literally see things differently than the rest of us, and how we, too, can learn to do that.
The book is really interesting , well-written, and quite funny in places. It also was very useful, and inspired me to look at art in new ways - both more closely, and with less intimidation than I subconsciously had before. Whatever you are looking for in your own relationship to art, Bosker's book will probably help you find it....more
The author of this book presents a provocative thesis about how to maximize the enjoyment of your life by budgeting very differently than most people The author of this book presents a provocative thesis about how to maximize the enjoyment of your life by budgeting very differently than most people (at least in the US) have been condition to do.
His essential message is that people tend to oversave, and in the process, deny themselves life-enhancing experiences unnecessarily.
While it is impossible for most people who have the luxury of savings to actually achieve dying with exactly zero, I found considering his thesis to be a useful exercise. It got me to thinking more concretely about the risk of not doing certain things now, given that my health isn't great to begin with, and I probably have fewer years than average to enjoy the types of experiences that I've been putting off.
I found his concept of the "memory dividend" to be particularly valuable. In a nutshell, the sooner you let yourself have enriching experiences, the more time you will be able to enjoy the memories of those experiences. It's an argument in favor of doing things like major travel when you are young and healthy enough to do it on the cheap, before you are too tied down with other obligations.
He gets a lot of pushback on his advice from people who want to leave behind money for their kids or for charity, but he responds to that with the suggestion that giving money to kids or charity while you are still alive will allow you to not only enjoy the benefits of your generosity but also be more helpful to the people and causes you care about sooner. Particluarly on the subject of children - many adult children most need financial help to do things like buy a house earlier than their parents are expected to die, so argues helping them sooner, when their needs are greater, is the more rational thing to do.
The other argument he gets is from people who are terrified about running out of money before they die, which is a very real concern for many people in the US. He does a reasonable job of arguing that, while real, this fear is overblown because people don't realize how much their spending will go down as age slows them down in their later years.
He provideds data and statistics to support his arguments and help people apply them to their own situation, and of course, he also has an app.
Overall, I found this to be a useful and thought provoking book. I'm not rating it higher because it's extremely repetitive in places, resulting in a fair amount of skimming. Also, the author is so wealthy that, while he acknowledges that this is a problem for those of a certain kind of privilege, he offers little information on how these ideas might apply to those on the other end of the spectrum. I think it would have been much more interesting if he had partnered with someone who could provide insight on his theories from that perspective....more
This is a fascinating, comprehensive history of the island of Cuba and why it has been in a state of revolution for much of its recorded history.
WhethThis is a fascinating, comprehensive history of the island of Cuba and why it has been in a state of revolution for much of its recorded history.
Whether it was the native Taino fighting against the Spanish in 1492, the Cuban-born descendants of Spanish settlers and slaves (both free and captive) fighting against rule by Spanish kings, the Spanish crown fighting against the British or the Americans, and utlimately Castro & company fighting against the American-backed but highly corrput "independent" government, Cuba has spent a great deal of the last 500 years at war.
Ferrer goes into great detail as she covers chapters in the island's history and its changes in fortune as power flipped back and forth between various entities. Sometimes, there was so much detail it was hard to keep track of the individuals highlighted, but despite that minor flaw, the arc of Cuba's history is so thoughtfully drawn I came to understand the complex reasons why the Cuba of today exists as it does, as well as why Cuba's relationship with the US is such a fraught one.
I was genuinely inspired to read about historical revolutionary leaders who attempted to build a truly equitable society on the island, and saddened to understand how, at the geopolitcal time the more recent revolutions occured, it was nearly impossible for that idealistic vision to take root.
Though Ferrer spends some time exploring the question of when Castro actually became communist, I was disappointed that there was little discussion of the personal corruption of Castro himself. The author reports about the postponement of elections and the shutting down of presses that preceeded his decades-long dictatorship, but perhaps there isn't enough factual evidence to paint a better picture of whether he was always a dictator in the making, or if his idealism died in one of the 60 assasination attempts he survived.
I realize it is not the job of a historian to speculate, but though I closed the book with an excellent understanding of the island's history, I was left with many questions as well....more
Jenny Odell's meditations on how addictive algorithmic technology has upendended our lives for the worse, and thoughts about how to reclaim our lives Jenny Odell's meditations on how addictive algorithmic technology has upendended our lives for the worse, and thoughts about how to reclaim our lives from that technology, contains many valuable insights. It is, however, rather different than what I was expecting.
She begins with some intruiging commentary on precicesly how algorithms disconnect us from ourselves and our physical world that I hadn't considered before. Rather than proceeding as a practical guide for how to do a digital detox and sustain a healthier relationship with technology, however, the book moves into activist territory pretty quickly.
There is a lot of discussion about how disconnection from the natural world in turn allows for easier explotation of both humans and that natural world. This book seems to be a call not just to reclaim our lives from technology, but in turn to reclaim our world from the capitalist corporations that control much of it.
This was too much of a leap for me. While I don't disagree with her ultimate goal, and I gained some insights into how to develop more of a relationship with a suburban place that seems to have no history left, there was too much ground to cover between Facebook addict and social activist for me to get as much out of this book as I'd hoped. ...more
This seemingly simple collection of 20 short essays looking at how we think, feel and behave around money, why we make the choices we do, and how to lThis seemingly simple collection of 20 short essays looking at how we think, feel and behave around money, why we make the choices we do, and how to learn to make better ones packs a deceptively powerful punch.
This is not a book of investment techniques. It's full of practical, and easily applicable advice designed to help improve a person's decision making process about money. It will provide value to not just people just learning to balance their first checkbook, but also those with money to burn, who will benefit from Housel's examples showing how failing to undersand the different skills required for getting money and keeping it has lead to many a downfall.
As a former CFO, I know more about money than average, but I still gained a number of valuable insights from this book. I also found the postscript addressing the history of the American conusumer interesting. I recommend this book to everyone....more
This book outlines the state of reasearch (as of 2017) on how time spent in or looking at nature impacts both our physical and mental health. The authThis book outlines the state of reasearch (as of 2017) on how time spent in or looking at nature impacts both our physical and mental health. The author's journey began after moving from the foothills of Colorado to living under a DC metro airport flight path, and with her quest to discover if there were ways to reduce her subsequent increase in tension and irritability.
She begins in Japan, home of research on forest bathing. Studies there have shown time in nature can have measurable physiological effects not just on standard markers like blood pressure, but also on immune system components like natural killer cell function (a commonly compromised immune aspect in ME/CFS patients).
The governments Japan, Korea and Singapore have found these results so promising that they have invested in creating more highly popular places where their urban popluations can experience the benefits of a walk in the woods, converting concrete jungles to parks and waterways along the way. While the more time you can get in nature, the better, even small amounts of time in a park like setting can have measurable physiological effects, with 5 total hours a month becoming a strong recommendation.
Williams also looks at postive research on hospital patients who have windows with a natural view vs. those who don't, and even the impact of office jockeys simply looking at pictures of beautiful, natural scenes. While real nature seems always to come out ahead, even a park view or a screen saver of a forest can make a measureable difference in measures of our well being.
In the book's later chapters, Williams explores the impacts of longer-term, immersive natural experiences on veterans suffering from PTSD and children with intractable ADHD. The stories she tells here about the healing and empowerment experienced by those able to access these types of therapies are compelling.
It's no real surprise that our bodies and minds generally have a strong posivite response to being in nature that in some cases lasts well after our return to our indoor urban lives. While Williams clarifies the fact that it's difficult to tease apart how much of the improvement comes from being in nature itself vs. being removed from the stressors of daily life (and those damned phones!), and provides some examples of people who remain unmoved by scenes that inspire awe in the rest of us, the overall consensus of early research is that nature is good for us. The more we can get, the better, but even a short walk around a treed block or to the park and back can make a real difference in the quality of life for most subjects studied.
At a time when we are becoming ever more urban and electronically tethered, William's book is an excellent reminder of just how important it is to spend time in our true native habitat....more
The subtitle of this book promises a lot, and I was intruiged by the idea that there was a link between dress codes and history. Ford does a great jobThe subtitle of this book promises a lot, and I was intruiged by the idea that there was a link between dress codes and history. Ford does a great job at showing how the way we've clothed ourselves throughout time correlated with major societal changes and was often the first sign of revolution and rebellion.
Post pandemic, it may seem like dress codes are a thing of the past. While that is true in many cases, fashion remains a language we all speak but don't always understand.
I learned a lot while reading this book, whether it was about tailoring advances that created the option of dramatically distinct clothing for different genders, the history of the Zoot suit (with the corresponding realization that Zoot-suit wearing villans in my childhood cartoons were reinforcing a racist stereotype) and the subtle and not so subtle messages that our current, more egalatarian wardrobe options telegraph.
I'm not very interested in fashion with a capital F, but I thoroughly enjoyed this examination of fashion as a tool both of historical change and individual expression....more
I've always been curious to know more about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. This book, recommended by a friend during the early days of COVID-19, loI've always been curious to know more about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. This book, recommended by a friend during the early days of COVID-19, looked like a great, and timely, introduction.
I learned quite a bit while reading this book. Barry, a medical historian, does a good job of explaining in layman's terms how viruses work - where they come from, how and why they mutate, and why they can vary so much in their severity from virus to virus and from wave to wave.
He also spends a fair amount of time explaining the medical background of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, taking a major detour away from the pandemic to spend a lot of time detailing the struggles of those who sought to bring the US out of the medical dark ages and into the age of scientific research. Much of this section of the book revolves around the early days of Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Institute, with extensive background of the men who founded and built these institutions. While this is somewhat interesting and also lays the groundwork for why the US was only partially prepared medically to fight the disease, it is a rather substantial digression from the pandemic itself.
There is no discussing the 1918 pandemic without also discussing WWI, and a significant portion of the book details the spread of the virus through various military camps and the battle between the medical men who wanted to quarantine soldiers from camps with outbreaks and the military men who didn't want anything to interfere with the war itself. There are some truly heartbreaking stories in this section, including one leader of a camp in Illinois who overruled the medical advice to separate the men in overcrowded barracks by having them sleep in tents. That officer was trying to protect his men from the visible and easy to understand frigid Midwestern winter, but in cramming them into overcrowded buildings, he doomed many to death by a foe he could not see or really understand.
Barry's speculations on the virus' impact on final peace negotiations at the Treaty of Versailles was particularly chilling. I was unaware that Wilson, who had been unyielding in his insistance of granting the Germans some measure of ability to recover after the war, lost the strength and conviction of this position after he was struck down by the virus himself in the middle days of the negotiations. Though we will never know exactly what happened to Wilson medically, Barry provides enough anecdotate reports to suggest that the virus had a significant impact on Wilson's cognitive capabilities. It is disturbing to consider an alternate history in which the terms of that treaty supported the development of a Weimar Republic in which the Nazis never gained a foothold.
Though I learned a lot from this book, I also found it extremely frustrating to read. It's at least twice as long as it needs to be, and Barry would have been well served by the sharp pen of a judicious editor. He repeatedly goes into far more detail than he needs to, spending a lot of time providing too many examples of the same thing, whether it's military camp outbreaks or failed experiments to figure out what was causing the pandemic. In one section, he discusses confusion in Australia about the nature of this illness - many people thought it was the plague. That is an interesting fact that supports some of his other points, but I was baffled that Barry felt the need to support with no fewer than eight quotes from an Australian oral history project. After realizing this was not going to change, I found myself skimming significant portions of the last third.
The fact that this book was a bestseller and seems to have many five star reviews points to my frustrations being in the minorty. Because I was snatching a few moments here and there to read this while trying to adapt my business to a currently unfolding pandemic, I read it in fragmented sittings, so perhaps this added to my difficulties with his exhaustive examples. It may also be a question of personal interest - Barry leaves no stone unturned in his discussion of the intersection of the virus and the American military, as well as the multiple failed research efforts being done by the medical establishment. He gives much less attention to how the virus impacted the civilian population, however, as well as the impact of the virus on the rest of the world.
My frustrations with his writing choices aside, I think the afterword Barry wrote in 2018 (14 years after its original publication) should be required reading for everyone. MERS, the 2009 Swine Flu, and Ebola had all happened since he first published his book, and Barry highlights the strengths and weaknesses of our responses to those outbreaks, as well as how we should have been preparing for the next one.
Though we have many more medical tools than we did in 1918, the speed with which a pandemic can unfold is far greater. In 1918, Wilson supressed reporting on the virus because he didn't want to show weakness or have Americans distracted from their commitment to the war, at an ultimate, disasterous cost. The human nature underlying the 1918 scientific failures Barry exhaustively documents have not really changed over the last 100 years either.
All of this together means that the most important thing a government can do during a pandemic is to be honest with the public. But if there is anything we have learned over the last few months, it's that the government's impulse to lie to the public about disasters inconvenient to it also hasn't changed over the last century. Barry's book makes clear in no uncertain terms why weeks matter in a pandemic, but that is a lesson that far too many government officials in the US have tragically failed to learn....more
The story of the devastating 1964 Alaskan earthquake is a deeply compelling one on its own. In this book, author Jon Mooallem has made multiple decisiThe story of the devastating 1964 Alaskan earthquake is a deeply compelling one on its own. In this book, author Jon Mooallem has made multiple decisions to make that history even more engrossing through his literary prose, focus on key characters (including the unofficial voice of the quake, part-time radio reporter Genie Chance) and discussion of the learnings of the newly deputized disaster recovery sociologists who found a very different picture on the ground than what earlier theory suggested.
Mooallem's interweaving of snippets of the Thornton Wilder play, "Our Town," which was in rehearsals at the community theater when the quake struck, with the histories of his chosen subjects is particularly effective at helping the reader grasp both the urgency of the quake itself as well as how quickly it receded in the grand history of time. Highly recommended....more
When I lived in Oregon in the '80's, I would never have believed that I would someday have something in common with the creator of Nike. Having co-fouWhen I lived in Oregon in the '80's, I would never have believed that I would someday have something in common with the creator of Nike. Having co-founded my own shoe company 9 years ago, however, I found many aspects of this book eerily relatable.
Like many memoirs, this one got off to a slow start for me. Knight spends more time on his formative years than seems warranted - while I understand that his pre-Nike world travels were life changing for him, his depictions of them did not move the story forward in the way I think he intended.
Once he begins the tale of his decision to import a Japanese running shoe, however, the book became much more of a page turner. I had no idea how fraught those early years were, with Knight working full time as an accountant while attempting to get his fledgling company off the ground.
He discusses his partnership with coaching legend Bill Bowerman in detail, which was a critical factor to Nike's success. But Knight's own finance background was equally important - he was constantly skating the edge of liquidity as stodgy bankers balked at financing his fast growth, but he managed to pull it off by understanding the critical importance of who needed to get paid first.
As Knight talks about his and Bowerman's decision to start making their own shoes better suited to "American" feet, I found myself cringing in frustration. I believe that many of the ideas he and Bowerman popularized in athletic shoes, including narrower toe boxes, additional cushioning and elevated heels, were solutions in search of a problem that have not done us any favors.
Despite my sharp philosophical differences with Nike products, however, I sympathized greatly with Knight's journey and struggles as a founder. Making stuff is incredibly hard, and Knight's fortitude in the face of constant adversity in those early years is truly inspiring. ...more
I enjoy books about books, so I was looking forward to what promised to be a compelling tale of one of the most important books in history. There's noI enjoy books about books, so I was looking forward to what promised to be a compelling tale of one of the most important books in history. There's no question that there is a lot of interesting information in Davis's telling of the story of a particular Gutenberg Bible referred to as No. 43, and I learned quite a lot about its historical underpinnings and the rare book trade in reading it.
Ultimately, however, my feelings about the book suffered from the false advertising of the title and subtitle. While the life of the book between its original printing and its first appearance on the auction circuit is unknown, its early history is plausibly assumed to have passed in a monastery and there is little exploration beyond that assumption. Once it appears for sale 200 years ago, however, there is even less mystery to be explored. Davis focuses instead on the rise and fall of the fortunes of the book's owners, particularly Estelle Dahoney, a devout Catholic who was its last individual custodian and first woman to purchase one of the 49 known copies available.
I found the section covering the scientific examination of the book and what it revealed about Gutenberg's methods to be one of the more interesting parts of the book. It's a quick and somewhat interesting read, but not everything I had hoped for....more
This is one of the most incredible stories I have ever read. It is the gripping, terrifying and inspiring biography of a disabled American socialite wThis is one of the most incredible stories I have ever read. It is the gripping, terrifying and inspiring biography of a disabled American socialite whose passionate love of France and refusal to except the limitations of being a woman and having only one full leg motivated her to become one of the most successful spies of the second world war.
Virginia Hall fell in love with France as an expat. Despite her mother's expectations that she marry well for the benefit of the family, Virginia had her sights set on a career in the diplomatic corps. She did not see why being a woman should stand in the way of that, and after losing the lower half of one leg in a hunting accident, she only redoubled her efforts to overcome the bias against women as diplomats. She remained stymied in her efforts, however, until France's abrupt capitulation to the Nazis, when she caught the eye of a leader in Britain's newly formed spy agency, the SOE.
Because America was at that point still neutral in the war, Virginia was able to return to France and operate under the cover of being a war correspondent for the New York Post while she began the dangerous work of knitting together the first pockets of the French resistance. At this point her sex and her disability worked in her favor, since no one could imagine she was actually a spy for the British. But what made her so successful was not simply her unlikliness. Virginia possessed a compelling combination of charisma, compassion, intelligence, discretion and extreme caution that allowed her to continue operating long after many of her male counterparts had been captured or killed.
I found it nearly impossible to put this book down. As I read about her numerous incredible feats, I repeatedly found myself thinking that no one would believe these stories if they had been written as fiction. From breaking 12 of her SOE colleagues out of a Nazi jail to escaping to Spain by walking over the Pyrenees in miserable weather while half starved with her leg stump bleeding to returning to France even after her cover had been blown to build and lead her own guerilla resistance unit that did devastating damage to the Germans, I couldn't begin to understand how the story of such an incredible person was only just now being told.
Some of her anonymity had to do with the nature of her work, which remained classified for decades after her exploits. Her lack of interest in being celebrated also played a part, since she rejected some honors and cared little for others that were bestowed upon her. But the greatest cruelty of Virginia Hall's story is that, once the war was over, the American CIA forerunner which she had eventually gone to work for expected she, like all the other women who had supported the war effort, would return to more traditional "womanly" roles and leave the real work to far less experienced men. Her supervisors who had lived through the war from the comfort of an ocean away simply failed to understand how Virginia's extensive field experience could translate in any useful way to the new cold war unfolding across Europe, and left her underutilized and frustrated for the majority of her post war career due to blatant sexism that they eventually acknowledged cost them dearly.
Now that this book is out, I hope that Virginia's story will become much more widely known and inspire a new generation of people who have been overlooked to refuse to let limitations imposed on them by others stand in their way....more
I bought this book because I now make shoes designed for healthy, natural movement, which high heels are decidedly not. Despite knowing the significanI bought this book because I now make shoes designed for healthy, natural movement, which high heels are decidedly not. Despite knowing the significant negative effects these shoes have on not just the feet but also the ankles, knees, hips and back, I still found myself unable to shake the idea that a truly elegant look requires these torturous devices.
Summer Brennan's mesmerizing book is an exploration of why that idea is so deeply embedded in the consciousness of many women. I've never read anything quite like it before. It's structure is unique, comprised of 150 short segments that travel through myth, history, literature and Brennan's own modern-day experiences to weave together an insightful understanding of the relationship between movement, shoes, and perceptions of what is beautiful and feminine.
The portrait Brennan paints contains many shades, including recognizing how high heels can give a sense of power to those who have felt powerless. Mostly, though, it is a subtle indictment of high heels as a relic of the idea that a beautiful woman is a vulnerable one, one whose very ability to move is restricted. It's hard to explain, but Brennan's unconventional approach helped me to gain a three-dimensional understanding of the contradiction inherent in these shoes and my own struggles to feel elegant when not wearing them. Highly recommended....more
Anyone who loves books will likely find this examination of the Los Angeles library fire of 1986 a fascinating read.
This fire, in which hundreds of tAnyone who loves books will likely find this examination of the Los Angeles library fire of 1986 a fascinating read.
This fire, in which hundreds of thousands of books were destroyed, was an event author Susan Orlean was unaware of until moving to LA many years after it happened. Once learning about it, she began extensively researching both the fire, the controversy surrounding a never arrested arson suspect, and the history of the LA library system itself, the results of which are artfully condensed in this volume.
Though there are sections where the pace of the book is a bit slower than I'd like, reading this book was a kind of homecoming for me. I was so passionate about reading as a kid that my mother refused to take me to the library more than once a day. Orlean's rediscovery of her forgotten love of libraries helped remind me of my own early love, while simultaneously teaching me what a crucial role a modern library has played and continues to play in a functioning democratic society. ...more
It's hard to describe what a delicious book this is. The author has combined her twin passions for color and fashion and mixed them together with histIt's hard to describe what a delicious book this is. The author has combined her twin passions for color and fashion and mixed them together with history, art and chemistry to provide a delectable collection of morsels about where colors we might not think twice about first appeared in the human story, and how they and their making evolved over time.
I found this book on the "Staff Picks" shelf of our local independent bookstore and flipped it open to the pages on Tyrian Purple, Cleopatra's favorite color. In less than three pages, I learned about the labor intensive and incredibly stinky process used to manufacture this hue from the secretions of a Mediterranean mollusk nearly wiped out by the process, with a reported 250,000 animals required to make one garment. The process was so expensive that even a Roman emperor claimed to not be able to afford to buy his wife a Tyrian dress.
Though not all colors in the book had such famous admirers, I found the stories behind even the blandest of shades to be endlessly fascinating. Having grown up in a world where the magic of chemistry puts most all shades of color within ordinary reach, being briefly sent back to a time where that was not the case made me appreciate the rainbow around me in a way that I haven't in years. ...more
I picked up this book after hearing AJ Jacobs discuss his attempt to create the world's largest family reunion in a podcast. As always, he is an amiabI picked up this book after hearing AJ Jacobs discuss his attempt to create the world's largest family reunion in a podcast. As always, he is an amiable and highly readable chronicler of his misadventures as he shares what he learned about the boom in genealogy brought about by the fertile combination of the Internet and DNA testing and what he learned about his own family history through the process.
Jacobs' motive in attempting to create the world's largest family reunion is a noble one; after learning that we are all related if you go back far enough, he hoped to use our ultimate inter-relatedness to soften the hard edges of tribalism that seem to be the cause of so many of today's woes. As he moved through the project, however, he regularly caught himself favoring his own known family over his more distant unknown relations, and his meditations on these ingrained habits are insightful.
Part of the reason I picked up this book was because, in the podcast, Jacob discussed the current unreliability of the ethnic origin component of DNA testing. Having taken 3 tests with significantly varied results myself, I wanted to know more about this topic. Unfortunately, that subject is not addressed in the book. For those looking to learn more about genealogy research and the explosion of new tools available for that, however, I would definitely recommend this book. ...more
This book is a collection of essays written between 2015-2017 when the power structures that traditionally silenced stories of abuses against women weThis book is a collection of essays written between 2015-2017 when the power structures that traditionally silenced stories of abuses against women were falling apart. Written in Solnit's trademark smooth, gentle but devastating prose, the book is full of laser sharp insights about the sea change going on in a world where women have realized that their voices, collected together, along with new mediums like social media have provided them with a power to fight back against abuse that no generation in recent memory could have even dreamed of having.
Solnit speaks eloquently about silence in this book, not just the silence traditionally forced on women seeking justice for crimes done against them, but also the negative impact that our imbalanced gender politics have on men as well as those who have never fit neatly into either category.
Essays here include observations on the waves of accusations that toppled Cosby and Ghomeshi, but the book was completed before the next round unleashed by Weinstein's accusers. It also has a chapter about male allies and how crucially important they are in this fight to change the silencing of victims' voices.
The climate in this arena is shifting so fast that, not a year after publication of this book, Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari, two men Solnit praised as allies for using their comedy platforms to highlight the non-stop dangers women face in our daily lives, became themselves the target of abuse of power allegations. It seems comedians are a particularly problematic group to have as allies; in another section, Solnit's highlighting of a brilliant Amy Schumer sketch about rape culture now comes with a footnote about what Solnit considers at best tone-deaf pieces Schumer has since done on racial issues.
One of the reasons I love Solnit's writing is that no matter how horrifying the subject she is speaking about is, there is so much grace woven through her words the tragic becomes easier to face, her prose functioning as a safety net that catches us should we lose our balance as we turn to bear witness to previously hidden crimes. The iron resolve in her gentle words also wove its way into my mind deeply enough to undermine the effectiveness of an emotional attack I was currently undergoing by someone using multiple rounds of old guard silencing tactics. It was a coincidence that I happened to read a particular section of this book right at the time I needed to hear those words, but as I reflect back on how many times I have auto-silenced myself, or auto-blamed myself, for things that were done to me, I find myself thinking that this is probably a book worth regularly re-reading until those tightly woven internal patterns have, once and for all, irrevocably unraveled. ...more
Loading...
