Boundless nerdiness
Topic: Reading
I was at uni this afternoon (on what is theoretically my summer break, let's not forget), trying to get myself organized to make some headway on my thesis research, and being intermittently distracted by the various research students wandering around, easing back into their routine after their holidays. I can't tell you how many conversations I overhead wherein people said something along the lines of: 'I had a great holiday. I read so many books!' Because they do so little reading over the course of their research, you see.

As for me, I've been doing well with the research/fun reading balance. I finished The Postwar Moment, finally, after taking detailed notes on just about every chapter. I was impressed with the accessibility of the writing and the way the book was assembled. Edited collections often suffer from uneven writing and a lack of internal cohesion, but The Postwar Moment is well-written overall, and it's clear that most, if not all, the authors had access to each others' work at some point in the writing process, which makes The Postwar Moment feel like a collaborative project rather than just a collection of chapters. The one thing I would've liked to have seen was more work from Bosnian authors, but the book does what it set out to do - examine the ways in which expectations about masculine behaviour shape peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and postconflict reconstruction - and does it well.

And for the final nail in my nerd coffin, for fun I've been reading a massive fantasy novel that's part of what's shaping up to be a massive series. A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I read the first three books several years ago, and have been waiting for ages for this installment. And having got it, I'm not thrilled. It feels like the story may have gotten away from Martin a bit this time around. The previous three books were tightly-plotted, interweaving multiple narrators, plotlines, and character arcs in telling the story of a country held together by intrigue and military force as it begins to pull apart. A Feast for Crows feels sprawling, and in fact, is only half the book it was intended to be. The next half will be published this year or early next year. Martin did his best to tie up loose ends, but it feels unfinished. I'm still sorry that I'm done with it, though. Martin has created a rich and detailed world populated with complex, evolving characters, and I find it makes for very compelling reading.

If you're wondering why I've suddenly started talking so much about what I've been reading, it's because I've got half a mind to have a run at the 50 Book Challenge this year. I'm curious to see whether I can balance academic reading with personal reading and still come out at an average of a bit under a book a week over the course of the year. I'm dubious, but off to a decent start all the same, having finished four books already.

Second book
Topic: Reading
Okay, so it really should've been The Postwar Moment that was my second book of the year (and it will be my third, because I'm going to spend all weekend working on it), but I swear procrastination wasn't the problem. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel, is a lightning-fast read. I finished it in a couple days only reading on the tram and before I went to sleep. Longitude a well-crafted popular history of the efforts to develop an efficient and effective means to allow ships to determine their longitudinal position, thus enabling safer, faster sea travel.

At the heart of the narrative is the professional life of James Harrison, a self-taught watchmaker who, at the end of the eighteenth century, against long odds, conquered the difficulties involved in developing a clock that would maintain its time onboard a ship. Knowing the difference between the time at their current location and the time at the prime meridian would allow sailors to determine their distance from the prime meridian. Because, as if traveling long distances in chancy weather in small wooden ships wasn't scary enough, prior to the nearly-simultaneous development of Harrison's clock and more accurate means of astronomical navigation, determining longitude was very nearly a matter of guesswork. Fatal miscalculation was scarcely uncommon. The ability to determine longitude accurately was the key to more secure travel and shipping, and less risky exploration. Solving the problem of determining latitude was an obsession for governments, institutions and individuals.

Sobel deftly interweaves biographical information with social, political, and scientific history, all delivered in an engaging, conversational tone. Longitude is an entertaining and informative read, and I’m now looking forward to reading her next book, Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love. Is it just me, or does Sobel have a knack for crafting interesting subtitles?

It's that time of year
Topic: Navel gazing
Time for contemplation, setting goals, taking stock, and general navel gazing. And this year, I have an audience on which to inflict it! Lucky, lucky you.

Scheherazade also thinks that this is an appropriate time for activities of this nature, which is why she pointed out the "signature strengths" survey at authentichappiness.org. We all know I can't keep away from the internet quizzes. Or keep the results to myself. So here's the abbreviated version of what the survey had to say about my "signature strengths":

1. Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness: You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person. (And I'm so grateful to the Blue Fairy for making me that way!)
2. Curiosity and interest in the world: You like exploration and discovery. (If I didn't know that my mom occasionally drops by, comments like this could lead me down some very inappropriate paths)
3. Love of learning: You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums - anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn. (Say it with me: neeeeerrrrrd!)
4. Appreciation of beauty and excellence: You notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life. (All together now: snoooooooooooooob!)
5. Capacity to love and be loved: You value close relations with others. (Heh. Heh heh. Yes, I'm twelve. Come on - I get this and #2 and I'm not supposed to snicker?)

I guess it's obvious I have some mixed feelings about 'official' personality tests (despite all the fun I have with ones like 'Which Disney villainess are you?'*). I don't like picking 'the answer that best describes [me]' out of a list of five options. Of course, it doesn't help that my favorite answer to just about any question is 'it depends'. I look at multiple choice questions about my values or my reactions and think 'under what set of circumstances?' Although I'm not trying to discourage anyone from taking tests, just putting too much stock in the results. They can be useful tools, but then, so can astrology.

As tools go, though, I much prefer open-ended exercises like the Proust Questionnaire (this version borrowed from Searchblog):

What is your most marked characteristic?
Empathy

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Compassion

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Determination

What do you most value in your friends?
Curiosity, intelligence, wit, passion

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Selfishness

What is your favorite occupation?
Sitting under a tree on a summer afternoon, reading

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I don't really have one - don't think its possible. The closest I've come, though, has usually been on a long night spent talking and eating with close friends.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Failure

In which country would you like to live?
Croatia or Cambodia

Who are your favorite writers?
Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Sherman Alexie

Who are your favorite poets?
ee cummings, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Mr. Darcy

Who is your favorite heroine of fiction?
Thursday Next

Who are your favorite composers?
Bach and Beethoven

Who are your favorite painters?
Matisse, O'Keefe, Rembrandt, Van Gogh

What are your favorite names?
Michaela (as it's pronounced in German, Me'shellah) and Paul (Pavel, Paolo, etc.)

What is it that you most dislike?
Intentional rudeness

Which talent would you most like to have?
To play the piano well

How would you like to die?
With few regrets

What is your current state of mind?
Edgy

What is your motto?
'Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.'
-Immanuel Kant

(With all these 'what is...' questions, I rather feel as if I'm facing the Bridgekeeper.)

After all that, all that comes to mind for a conclusion is another classic phrase: 'Pbtha-pbtha-pbthat's all folks!'



*The Evil Queen from Snow White. Stupid test. I'm clearly Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.

Walking in a wint . . . whaaaaaat now?
Topic: Whatever
While out walking late in this balmy January evening, I passed by a house with lovely garden in which the gaudy gleam of Christmas decorations was accompanied by the soft sputtering hiss of a lawn sprinkler.

Is this what they mean by cognitive dissonance?

The new year's first book
Topic: Reading
I'm feeling a bit guilty that it was The Internationals by Sarah May. It really should have been The Postwar Moment, which has to be returned on Monday and will doubtless be important for my thesis, but can't be read in bed since I have to take notes on it. So The Internationals it was.

I wanted to like The Internationals. Its set in Macedonia, it's about the people who do relief and development work, it was nominated for the 2004 Orange Prize. In places, I did like it. There were moments, in the scenes set in and around Skopje, where I could place myself in the book, look around, and know exactly where I was and what I would be seeing. But I liked it mostly because it sharpened my own memories. I was very aware that the characters were created. They didn't ring true to me, although their dilemmas and development were interesting. Misha Glenny succinctly identifies the other problems I had with the book in his review for the Guardian, so I won't rehash them here, but they were irritating enough to prevent me from fully immersing myself in the story.

I wouldn't rule out reading one of May's other books, though. The narrative is well-paced, her writing style is clean and unaffected, and she creates very evocative descriptions of places. It's just unfortunate that reading The Internationals made me wish that someone who knows Macedonia had written it.

Enjoy me while I'm around
Topic: Uni
Because I just finished drafting a timetable for writing my thesis and all my coursework for the year, and it is brutal. I'm suddenly terrified all over again. Not so much, this time, by the scope of the project (my supervisor seems like the sort to reign me in if I start letting it get too overblown), but by the amount of work I have to do in a very limited time. Hopefully, only next semester will be really frantic. Since I'm taking a class in the late summer, I'll only have one class in my final semester. Or, who knows, maybe I'll finally get a handle on this time management thing everyone keeps telling me about, and I won't even be frantic next semester despite the amount of work I have to do. Looking at my timetable right now, though, that doesn't seem likely.

Right. Back to work, then.

An idea that might take some getting used to
Topic: Whatever
Got an odd jolt this morning as I was walking down the sidewalk and passed by a woman in about her early 40s wearing a nose ring. It seemed very incongruous, but then I realized that I'll probably fairly quickly get to the point where I barely notice, as it becomes more common over the next few years. And in about 25 years or so, I'll have friends who will be grandmothers with nose rings and tattoos. That idea struck me as really funny, because I've been wired to think that grandmothers look like this, or (in a more updated version) like this. So if this picture of a grandmother feels surprisingly new to me, how startling is it going to be to see not only the reality of a grandmother with a row of earrings up her ear, a nose ring, and a tattoo sleeve, but the first children's book that depicts a grandmother like that? I'm looking forward to that development in children's literature.

Required reading
Topic: Politics
The Washington Post published 'this story' on the Bush administration's plans not to request further funding from Congress for rebuilding in Iraq, which the Guardian drew on for it's pointed discussion of just how short the administration will fall of its stated plans for rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure. Funds that were intended for infrastructure projects had to be diverted to security measures due to the scale and persistence of the ongoing guerrilla conflict. Further evidence of just how thoroughly the Bush administration neglected to adequately plan for post-invasion security and stabilization needs in Iraq, if anyone needed it.

Say cheese
Topic: Ranting
Christmas is over, and I'm over Christmas, but I still had to laugh at Jellyfish's takedown of Carols by Candlelight, a Melbourne Christmas tradition that, between the Christmas Eve broadcast and Christmas day rebroadcast, I saw in its entirety. People, it was every bit as bad as Jellyfish claims, and I didn't spend all day waiting in line alone to see the thing. I was hoping for cheesy holiday goodness, but it was mostly bad evening gowns, worse "jokes", and mercilessly butchered carols. Jellyfish didn't mention, amidst all the other things that were bizarre about the evening, the aspect that I found the most unusual the Melbourne Gospel Choir, which was composed of young, telegenic people who could sing, but couldn't seem to sway in unison. It was oddly distracting. They sounded like a gospel choir, but they didn't look like any gospel choir I'd ever seen before.


Oops. This was not meant to go live this morning - I'd intended to save it as a draft and hit the wrong button. At least all the links work, for once, but I did feel the need to edit the text.

Quiet night
Topic: Whatever
Happy not-quite New Year! It's nearly 11:30 p.m. in Melbourne, and I'm going to bed soon. I haven't felt my best all week - the remnants of the cold I wasn't quite able to shake before Christmas, plus the heat, plus the cumulative effects of all the general holiday carryings-on are conspiring to make me feel rather unwell. It's quite the evil conspiracy, coming to fruition on the biggest party night of the year. So it's a quiet New Year's Eve for me. After all, the last thing I need right now is a night that lasts well into tomorrow and takes a day or more to recover from. Although, since I put it that way, I am suddenly and entirely against my better judgement tempted to try to make it downtown by midnight. ::grins:: Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year to you all!