Book Review: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself, by Louise Meriwether Harriet Jacobs, ****

Synopsis

Louise Meriwether Harriet Jacobs in her narrative reveals how she refused to be victimized within her own mind, but rather chose to act instead from a steadfast conviction of her own worth....Hers is an example worth emulating even in these modern times.

Published in 1861, this was one of the first personal narratives by a slave and one of the few written by a woman. Jacobs (1813-1897) was a slave in North Carolina and suffered terribly, along with her family, at the hands of a ruthless owner. She made several failed attempts to escape before successfully making her way to freedom in the North, though it took years of hiding and slow progress. Eventually, she was reunited with her children.

Book Review: Triumph of the City, by Edward Glaser, ****

Singapore, 2012

Synopsis

America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly... Or are they?

As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America's income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.

Book Review: Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor, ****

Synopsis
The author points out that Buddha was not a mystic and his awakening was not a shattering revelation that revealed the mysteries of God or the universe. What the Buddha taught was not something to believe in, but something to do. Buddha challenged people to understand the nature of anguish, let go of its origins, realize its cessation and create a certain way of life and awakening. This awakening is available to all of us, and Batchelor examines how to work realistically towards it, and how to practise and live it every day.

Review
This book immediately rang a bell with me. I have long felt close to Buddhism, among other reasons, because it does not require believing in any dogma. As someone who has been educated in science, I always felt uneasy with beliefs. I prefer to know, or to accept I don't know. I am an agnostic. This book spells out very clearly how Buddhism traces the path to inner peace without requiring anyone to "believe" in anything.

For example, we have no real answers to metaphysical questions (the origins of the universe and such unanswerable eternal open issues) so Buddha stopped asking them. On the ethical plane, the dharma is the logical conclusions one reaches by reasoning on what is good, not some kind of given commandment. The closest thing I can find in Western philosophy is the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant, whom I regard as the greatest thinker of Western civilization.


You can find more books by the same author by clicking on this link.

Film Review: Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), by Michael Anderson, ****

Sinopsys
Phileas Fogg bet his fellow club members that he can circle the globe in eighty days. That may not be impressive today, but in 1872, it was nearly impossible. Accompanied by his valet, Passepartout, and the wandering Princess Aouda, Fogg crosses Europe, India, Japan, the Pacific and the United States.

Winner of several Academy Awards, this was written by John Farrow (Mia's dad) and S.J. Perelman, based on Jules Verne's 1873 classic. The fun part is the razzle-dazzle. Todd knew what he was doing with all those exotic locales and over 40 cameo appearances, including Charles Boyer, Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, José Greco, Peter Lorre, Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra, and Red Skelton. A very young Shirley MacLaine was painted and dyed to play a lively Indian Princess. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Review
Five Oscar winner film from 1956, the only one ever produced by Michael Todd, third husband of Elizabeth Taylor, who died soon afterwrds at 48. Nice box with two DVDs in English and French, with subtitles in Spanish as well. A pleasant panoramic view of the world's cultures, where the real protagonist is Passpartout, while Phileas Fogg embodies English pleghm in front of every and all adversity and unforseen circumstances. Surely some scenes appear rather improbable (in the book and in the film) but we should keep in mind that Verne was writing in the XVIII century and the film was made in the 1950s technology, no CGI here! But the movie flows well and leads the viewer by the hand around the world for a lively and at times even sparkling journey.

Of course, it is highly advisable to read the book as well, Naturalmente è consigliatissimo leggere il libro di Jules Verne. There are several editions available on Amazon if you click here.

Book Review: Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, *****

Synopsis
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters--the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This symbolic story is a story within a story or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts from dusk through to late night, to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary his Congolese adventure. The passage of time and the darkening sky during the fictitious narrative-within-the-narrative parallel the atmosphere of the story.

About the Author
Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1874 Conrad travelled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.

Review
A masterpiece about the greed of human nature and folly of men pursuing wealth and power at the cost of their sanity, and of their lives. The writing is disorganized, chaotic, crazy even, but that is exactly the kind of situation Conrad was trying to convey. If you get lost while reading, don't worry, you are supposed to! The Belgian occupation of the Congo was probably the cruellest of all colonial powers, at least as long as King Leopold was running the place as his personal fiefdom. (Things improved when the Belgian state took over at the begining of the XX century.) The value of life was close to zero, and the discrepancy between a white life and a black life could not have been starker. Even Africans often considered an African life worth next to nothing.

There are several additional editions of the book on Amazon.co.uk, including Kindle. Just click here to choose.



Here is the American edition with hardback, softcover and audio options.




Or click here to buy your copy on Amazon.com.


This book was made into a movie in the 1990s. Funny but Amazon only offers the DVD of this title in Italian. The movie, however, is not even close to the quality of the book. Roth does a good job, but the good news ends here. The location is a far cry from the majestic Congo river and the sequence of events is played out in an artificial way, makes it all feel very fake.

Book review/Recensione: Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, *****

Recensione in italiano di seguito!

Synopsis

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Book Review: Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps, by Allan and Barbara Pease, ****

Synopsis
The classic international bestselling book. Allan and Barbara Pease spotlight the differences in the way men and women think. Boys like things, girls like people. Every boy wants to be in a gang, and wants a gun; every girl has her best friend, with whom she shares her secrets. Men want status and power, women want love. It's amazing, he concludes, that they can ever live together...

Book Review: What the Chinese Don't Eat, by Xinran, ***

Synopsis
Since June 2003 Xinran has been writing about China in her weekly column in the Guardian. She has covered a vast range of topics from food to sex education, and from the experiences of British mothers who have adopted Chinese daughters, to whether Chinese people do Christmas shopping or have swimming pools. Each of her columns inspired letters and questions and more opportunities for Xinran to shed light on the culture of her native land. What the Chinese Don’t Eat collects these pieces together for the first time to give one unique Chinese woman’s perspective on the connections and differences between the lives of British and Chinese people today.

Book Review: The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Bjorn Lomborg, *****

Pollution in the Maldives

Synopsis

Lomborg, an associate professor of statistics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus and a former member of Greenpeace, challenges widely held beliefs that the world environmental situation is getting worse and worse. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues that feature prominently in headline news around the world, including pollution, biodiversity, fear of chemicals, and the greenhouse effect, and documents that the world has actually improved. He supports his arguments with over 2500 footnotes, allowing readers to check his sources.

Book Review: Inferno, by James Nachtwey, *****

Synopsis

A document of war and strife during the 1990s, this volume of photographs by the photojournalist James Nachtwey includes dramatic and shocking images of human suffering in Rwanda, Somalia, Romania, Bosnia, Chechnya and India, a well as photographs of the conflict in Kosovo. An essay by the author Luc Sante is included. The book is published to coincide with an exhibition of Nachtwey's work at the International Centre of Photography, New York.

Review

This book is a masterpiece of what I would call "political" photography. Nachtwey is a traveler, big time. He goes to war, or follows war's footsteps, and closes in on his subjects where most others would turn away. He prevails over his own emotions in order to show us the horrors of the world. He feels he has to do it, as he explains in interviews (see DVD below) because if he does not, who will? He is humble, understated and brilliant. The book contains only B&W pictures, is big and heavy and expensive, and it is probably the best photo reportage book you will ever buy. It certainly is for me.




You might want to buy this Oscar nominated DVD, made by Swiss director Christian Frei, who followed Jim Nachtwey and placed a micro cam on his film camera. He is also extensively interviewed and so are many who work with him. I have reviewed this DVD here on this blog.


Vous pouvez aussi acheter l'édition française de ce livre:

Book Review: The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, ****

Japanese soldier beheading a Chinese man

Synopsis

In December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Nanjing) and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered many thousands of Chinese civilians. The story of this atrocity continues to be denied or minimized by the Japanese government, though some in Japan do recognize it. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents in four different languages (many never before published), Iris Chang has written an emotional account of that disgraceful episode.

Book Review: My China Years, by Helen Foster Snow, **

Foster Snow is the wife of Edgar Snow, the author of "Red Star Over China - The Rise Of The Red Army". She actually met "Ed" in China and her book is about her time there, mostly with him. It is an interesting read to grasp the reality of life in China, and especially in Shanghai, in the thirties. She was well introduced in the circles that made things happen then, and had tea with notable Chinese as well as foreign dignitaries. She always was a naive political analyst though, and when she leaves her travelogue mode to draw more general conclusions about politics in China, or her future, it is clear that this was not her cup of tea...

Book Review: City of Sadness, by Bérénice Reynaud, ****

Synopsis

This work introduces the Western audience to the richness of New Taiwanese Cinema. It revisits a painful episode in Taiwanese history, creating an elliptical and impressionistic picture of Chiang Kai-shek's takeover of the island after the defeat of his Kuomintang army by Mao Zedong.

Review
This is a moving love story that serves as a conduit to illustrate the period right after WW II in Taiwan, when the Japanese colonial administration was replaced by the ruthless and corrupt rule of Chen Yi, a mainland administrator for Chiang Kai-shek. The infamous episode of 2/28/47 is the background against which the story is set.

Taiwan later became an extraordinary success story and today it is a thriving democracy, but the end of Japanese colonial rule did not start under the best auspices...

Book Review: Singapore Swing, by John Malathronas, *****

MBS from the modern art museum

Synopsis

For generations of Britons, Singapore was the international crossroads of the Empire, the ultimate colonial posting, the stimulus for writers such as Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham or Noel Coward. Can today’s hightech 24-hour city with its gleaming skyscrapers and high standard of living provide a similar kind of inspiration to a visitor?

John Malathronas penetrates the Oriental psyche and discovers the hustle among the stuffiness, the thrill behind the Confucian ethic and, ultimately, the joie de vivre in what has been unjustly dismissed as “a shopping mall with UN representation”. Still more importantly, during his quest, he realises that this overcrowded, multicultural, multifaith city-state can teach us a lesson about living together in harmony and with mutual respect.

More about the book and the author here on his website, with some additional material not found in the book.

Book Review: Formosa Betrayed, by George Kerr, *****

Island of Tatan, off Quemoy with Nationalist flag

By way of background...

"Our experience in Formosa is most enlightening. The Administration of the former Governor Chen Yi has alienated the people from the Central Government. Many were forced to feel that conditions under autocratic rule [Japan's rule] were preferable.

Book review: Coral Gardens, by Leni Riefenstahl, *****

Review
Leni Riefenstahl was a great, if politically controversial, movie director, but only later in her life she picked up photography in a serious way. Her books on African tribes are justly famous.

Book Review: A Little Book of Zen, *****

I bought this book some six years ago and it has found a permament home atop my writing desk ever since. I open it almost every day, usually on a random page, and almost always find someething that gives me reason to pause and think positively. Strongly recommended as dispenser of a daily pill of wisdom.

Book Review: Slaves of the Cool Mountains, by Alan Winnington, *****

Author with released slaves in Yunnan

Synopsis

Beijing, 1956: foreign correspondent Alan Winnington heard reports of slaves being freed in the mountains of south-west China. The following year he travelled to Yunnan province and spent several months with the head-hunting Wa and the slave-owning Norsu and Jingpaw. From that journey was born this book, which Neal Ascherson has called 'one of the classics of modern English travel writing'. The first European to enter and leave these areas alive, Winnington met a slave-owner who assessed his value at five silver ingots ('Your age is against you, but as a curiosity you would fetch a decent price'), a head-hunter who a fortnight earlier killed a man in order to improve his own rice harvest and a sorcerer struggling against the modern medicines sapping his authority and livelihood.

Book Review: Excerpta Maldiviana, by HCP Bell, *****

Male' harbour in early 1880s
H.C.P. Bell 1887

This is not easy reading. In fact it is not really meant for reading at all. It is mostly a comprehensive catalog of historical documents on the islands, compiled by a British civil servant who went there many times over several decades spanning the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX.

Book review: Maldives: Kingdom of a Thousand Isles (2004), by Andrew Forbes, ****

Cemetery on a Maldivian island

Precious little is written on the Maldives besides guide books on posh resorts. This book goes a long way toward filling that gap. The author is well read on the subject and has spent considerable time travelling around the archipelago. He provides fairly exhaustive historical and cultural analyses.