What I read in March

March was full of some really high quality reading. If only every month brought such riches.

• Two stories from Ted Chiang, both via boingboing:
  • The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, a lovely time travel fable in an ancient arabic setting
  • 72 Letters - A loopy mix of golem’s, DNA, golempunk and self reference. The ending is lovely.
• Glory – Greg Egan. Greg Egan always brings stunningly original ideas into his work and the climax is always for huge stakes. He does not disappoint here.
• The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien. This powerful collection of Vietnam War stories was a random gift from Sally Nelson, but it was a sock in the gut. Each story has the quality of a carefully composed poem and individually worthwhile and cohesive. The kind of story you have to take a breather after. The collection as a whole is more than the sum of the stories as the characters, events and themes reference each other and wind back on themselves.
• Superman: Red Son. It’s a great comic book superficially about superman landing in the U.S.S.R instead of landing in Kansas. It’s really about free will and political choice. The execution here is much better than the summary of the gimmick.
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret. What a wonder this is. A beautiful combination of full rich sketches, text, and film stills. It’s a children’s book, but so unusual and exquisite that it kept me spellbound.
• I am a Strange Loop – Douglas Hofstadter.  I found it convincing and persuasive.  Gave me a fuller understanding of Godel’s theorem, a way to apply it to more problems, and an understanding of how consciousness can be an illusion that believes in itself.  Fascinating and even more accessible than his first book, “Godel, Escher, Bach: and Eternal Golden Braid”.

If you were to read only one of these books, I’d hope it was “I am a Strange Loop”.   I think it is a powerful and touching explanation of what is going on in the meat between our ears.  But I’d hope you’d read more than one.  “The Things They Carried” and “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” are well worth your precious time.

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