larry kramer

begun:
The Tragedy of Today's Gays by Larry Kramer

The first thing I think I've ever read by Kramer and probably the last. It find him unbelievable and it seems to me the options are three(3)

• He's insane.
  


• He just doesn't understand why so many people aren't better than he is. I beleive this to be a kind of magical thinking that most people are guilty of; the whole mind/body problem is an example of this as well.
  


• He is incredibly devious holding himself up as an example of the possibility of surviving with AIDS in order to convince more people to acquire it so that there will be enough of a market for drug develoment(the drugs he needs to stay alive.
  

Begun:
New Sprint, the Novel by Robert Jordan
Dance for Two by Alan Lightman

Finished:
Chance in the house of Fate, A natural history of heredity by Jennifer Ackerman

It bears a strong resemblence to a combination of Matt Ridley's Genome and Lynn Margulis' Symbiotic Planet with a dash of autobigraphic prose poetry.

Contrarians 2

Finished:
Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens

At one point(pg.66) he says we should say that science is merely(my word) objective and disinterested inquiry but it seems to me that without the explicit acknowlegment of evidence, of repeatability, that he misses the essence of what science is about which in my opinion is that there is a reality that encompasses us and that that reality is also our conscience as it pays no mind to attempts to persuade it that it is anything other than what it is.

Contrarians

Finished:
A Promising Planet by Jeremy Strike

It was kind of interesting to read something so clearly written before the PC. On the very edge of the acknowlegment of womens rights.

Begun:
Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens

I'm by no means sure I'd ever heard of Hitchens before but the title was attractive and the style of the preface as well. At the beginning of chapter IV he quotes Freuds epitaph but seems to me that " The voice of reason is loud but most people are deaf " would have been more appropriate.(shades of Auntie Mame)

Finished:
The Cyborg from Earth by Charles Sheffield

Beginning:
Chance in the House of Fate, A Natural history of Heredity by Jennifer Ackerman

Yesterday

Started:
Crucible by Nancy Kress

Seen:
The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? Notes toward a definition of tragedy by Edward Albee

Perhaps I'm just to alienated to get it but I have no empathetic connection to Stevie and, as the saying goes, with friends like Ross who needs enemies.

The Golden Hammer performed by Mark McGoldrick

Begun:
Sontag & Kael "Opposites Attract Me" by Craig Seligman
Flowers of Doradil by John Rackham

Seen:
Moving Out
music by Billy Joel - I liked the originals better
dance by Twyla Tharp - amazing stuff, pity I couldn't detect any relation to the music

Art

Tuesday I went to LACMA to see about seeing the King TUT exhibit which naturally was not accessable without reservations so I had to settle for exhibits on Tim Hawkinson, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Japanese artwork for 19th century expositions.

The Tim Hawkinson exhibit really made me think about just what art is; in particular, it made me wonder if art has become(or maybe always was) anything significantly showing that someone put the effort/labor into doing something that ordinarily people wouldn't do or, indeed, think of.

reform

I've changed the name of the blog in hopes that it will better prompt me to write it.

• Finished:

1. The Book Nobody Read : Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich.
2. A Degree of Mastery : A journey through book arts apprenticeship by Annie Tremmel Wilcox

• Started:

1. Wizards Holiday by Diane Duane

Ok, I obviously am not keeping up with posting my reading list much less reviewing what I've read.