The Fever Called Living

Edgar Allan Poe
The Fever Called Living

Paul Collins

"Delightful" is a word that I don't get to use often enough. It might be surprising then to find it applied to such an icon of all that is gothic and dark as Edgar Allan Poe. This brief (just over 100 pages) biography delivers just that though.

The main thing I enjoyed was the emphasis on the human, day to day aspects of Poe's life. We've all heard the struggles, the poverty, the alcoholism and the doomed teenage bride, but this volume goes beyond that, viewing his short life in reference to the world and people around him. From businesss partners to fellow authors he in turn endeared himself to and annoyed, it provides a warm, human side we're rarely seen. For that alone I would recommend this; and with its brief length, it makes for a perfect gloomy winter weekend read.

Stephen Hawking's Universe

Stephen Hawking's Universe
Book and DVD series

I was glad I picked this up back to back with "A Brief History of Time". I was aware that some of the theories in that book had been proven, disproven, or had major breakthroughs in their development; this book and DVD (originally broadcast on PBS) series picked up nicely to follow up on those developments.

In my case, being interested in the subject, I was glad I read the book first, as I had as much of a handle as I was going to get on the subject matter going in. The series served as a great refresh and review, frequently visiting the locations discoveries or other important scientific moments had occurred. It was also nice in many cases to see the information presented by the scientists themselves, included the mechanical voice of Stephen Hawking's iconic electronic speech synthesizer.

I won't go into too much detail, as if you are familiar with the topic, you will already have a general idea of the concepts, and if you are not, well, my explanation will certainly muddy the waters further! Definitely a touchstone in science for geeks, philosophers, and those with an ongoing curiousity about the world (or worlds - multiverse theory is mentioned) around them.

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time
The Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition

Stephen Hawking

First off, to quote a great author, "Don't Panic"! I know most people hear the name Stephen Hawking and the subjects of physics and astronomy and promptly glaze over, or have flash backs to that one awful teacher we all had. The good news here is - wait for it - science and physics is fun, even if you don't completely understand every detail of every concept!

One of the things I found myself enjoying in this book is its honest descriptions of how the scientific process works. Hawking is not afraid to show himself, as well as others, discarding and reevaluating their theories and calculations based on new data that disproves, conflicts with, or shows problematic areas in their work. In addition Hawking has a gift for making science easy to visualize - from using a soap bubble to demonstrate how light reacts in multiple curvatures, tocom mon playing cards to demonstrate theories of particle spin, making these theories much easier to visualize and understand.

Although some of the areas Hawking expresses excitement about have not yet been explored, some have, such as the advances in gravitational wave science through the LIGO facility. Although science is constantly advancing, and some items in this book are either now proved, or we now have the technology to work with at finer levels, this is still an excellent read, and a good foundation for those who have an interest in science.

The Craft

The Craft
How the Freemasons Made the Modern World

John Dickie

Fair warning,this book is not, nor does it pretend to be an expose' of the inner workings of Masonic lodges, except in times where these overlapped world events and/or schisms within the Masonic order. What ths does give you is a look at how Masonic traditions impacted and were impacted by world events.

Dickie starts with examining the Masonic legends of the creation of the lodges, as well as delving into the actual likely origins. Throughout he chronicles the famous (and occasionally infamous) members through history, as well as how some of the ideals lead to helping establish better government policies and heirarchies during the overthrow of European monarchy. He also doesn't shy away from covering the times in fascist and colonial states and eras where the ideals stated in Masonic rules were severely contradicted by the behavior of their brothers.

I did find this a bit dense and ponderous at times, but not particularly more so than many other tomes covering history of organizations, families, or areas. If you have ever wondered about the conspiracy theories you may have heard, this is a good place to start looking into the origins and (for the most part) falsehood of them.