Where have I been?!?! Well, I had finals: that was miserable. Working full time and taking ten credits will not work; I got a 3.0 average. After that, Jessica wanted me to read Harry Potter and I agreed. I got the first book in Ancient Greek, but it’s proving very hard and will take me a long time, I’m sure. So I plunged ahead and got all seven books in English. I read and read and listened to audio books and read and read but now I’m done! They’re really great books and J.K. Rowling is merciless to the end, killing off major characters left and right. When something approaches this level of greatness, however, I think my wife and I both start switching to the Biblical measure of excellence, and then the work of art nose-dives in our estimation. Harry was great when he was a metaphor or an allegory, but as soon as he was totally real and facing real death, he attitudes were shown to be ungodly and his ultimate hope to be in himself.
There proves to be a through-line that is consistent between Harry Potter, The Matrix, Babylon 5 and even Star Wars (if you dig far enough). Aside from all the mono-myth items, the ultimate struggle and solution in all of these is the same. Our hero (or party of heroes) is faced with two kinds of opponents. There are those who are for chaos, power, i.e. physis. Typically, the protagonist is against this force (not so in The Matrix). Then there are the forces of law and order, nomos. In the end, we are left to conclude that the overwhelming necessity is for a third option, typically self-determination or choice. Of all the aforementioned series, Babylon 5 puts it most succinctly, “We can find our own way between order and chaos . . . Now get the hell out of our galaxy!”
The trouble is, from one sense they’re right in that we must pick a third option, but in a larger sense they’re all wrong, because our choice must be for something categorically different from mere nomos vs physis. To come into theological terms, the possibilities are not limited to antinomianism and legalism. The truth is not some bastard child of these polar opposites, it is the most intellectually rigorous acceptance of both dialectal nodes to the fullest extent. The Law cannot save us, but God did give us the Law and call it good. On a higher plane than the simplistic debate, we say we are not saved by the Law, but once saved we love it and strive to obey it out of love for Him who saved us in order that we might be free.
I had this same debate with my mother, and she came at it from another angle: civics. Do we say that the law is ultimate or people? In simple societies, there is the Rule of the One or Few, monarchy or oligarchy. The greater civilizations have the Rule of Law, but corrupted by political maneuverings. A great society would have great laws that need no exceptions or judges. The inconceivability of such a land pushes us to the superlative Kingdom, where the Perfect Man rules and all laws are but expressions of His Will.
Donald Kingsbury had written an interesting spin-off of Isaac Asimov’s celebrated Foundation Trilogy. Kingsbury was a Math professor in Canada and has authored several other sci-fi books. Other reviewers note his excess length, odd sentence structure and old-fashion gender norms. Not wanting to retread already worn ground, I’ll leave it to the reader to read comments on Amazon or Google it. Now, onto new territory!
Science fiction is useful as long as it makes us more aware of the present. Typically, author utilize their expertise in some field or another to teach us something from a new angle. Kingsbury’s contributions to society are:
- The state of things (from a physics perspective) can be thought of as information. Newtonian billiard balls tell you about the past and the future by the inertia, since we know the rules of motion. But once you get to the quantum level, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle guarantees that information is being lost continuously. The universe, therefore, cannot be deterministic since there isn’t ever enough information to go too far forward or backwards in time accurately.
- The amount of information present isn’t enough to derive an absolute system for all conditions. Prediction must be constantly refined and reapplied.
- Prediction is higher form of Man’s survival mechanisms: we contemplate unfavorable senarios until we can avoid them. Only the lazy aren’t constantly thinking of what is to their disadvantage in the world, right up until the moment it clunks them in the head!
There are many other nu gets of insight littered throughout the 500 pages, all the kinds of stuff that occurs to math professors! They make good food for thought, but as said by others, they could’ve been presented more concisely.
What is most annoying about this book is its unquestioned late-modern/post-modern assumptions. Illicit sex and abortions are ubiquitous features of the future world. Religion is just some political force from the past, passing away as humans become advanced. Science is slowly advancing us towards “The Truth” but the lessons of history are only of use to politicians. Love is simply the maternal gene acting up or ways people get what they want out of each other.
Asimov was cavalier and condescending towards religion in his books, but he was constantly either profound in his plot twists or engrossing in his characters thought-lives. Kingsbury does neither for too many pages upon pages. The main character, Eron, loses his brain-supplement-machine, but we barely spend a dozen pages delving into his torment before we are whisked away to flash backs and competing main characters. Kingsbury brilliantly reveals psychohistory to be Modernist intellectual chauvinism but spends a half page on what should have been an engrossing denouement. The thrill of out-smarting Asimov the Genius is taken away by too many pages of poo-pooing human history. Still, an interesting read.
Because I read The Sillmarillion in three days, the language stuck in my head and I had to purge it by imitation. Here’s a piece of my genealogy reinterpreted into archaic English and some links to help you comprehend it.
No TagsEre the coalescence of America, my ancestors dwelt hither, in these diverse lands. Few be those in these latter days who possess the knowledge of their progeninators, yet I have plumbed the depths of lore and learned much. This New World is peopled o’er with those come but late unto this land and ’tis nary a soul whose kin hast dwelt long herein, but ’tis so with me. Unto the sixth generation hast my blood abode hither, and all did come thence the isles of Britian and of Ireland, though not at all together.
The sires of my father were men of little, yea, even ill repute, drifting across the South of this land. Surely these men came from Ireland, for their name was Murphy, and yet those tales are lost in antiquity and none may discover them again. Fierce of spirit, they were, and shunned the company of other men. Swift to anger and fell of spirit, each father strove with his sons and drove them away under harsh hands smiting. Amongst his brethren, my father was temperate, and much loving of learning. Unable to dissuade his brethren, he in due course withdrew and strove to put off their speech and custom. But the blood of ancient martitime warriors flowed in his veins and into his children, and he became a warrior for country, like his father before him. He was married in haste, and so his history followed him, wheresoever he strode about the wide world.
Of the kindred who boure my mother, much may be said and is known, for they prospered well, staying in the fold of the Church. And they were called Clark, in elder speech Clerk or Cleric, for they were scholars and ministers of the Method and Re-Baptism. Of those not given much inheritance, they labored long in education, for through such study they rose in station and in wealth. Though not counted among the rulers, they remanded many of slaves and lands and estates in the South. All stood on ceremony and occasion, and indeed my mother married for wealth and title, at first. Yet not for long, for she, in rebellion, married my father, a man of small rank.
The labors of my father took us across the globe, and that with great frequency. More oft than not, but half a year was spent ere we set sail in the sky again for another, distant land. And by such, I learned first sorrow in parting, then speed in friendship and its overtures. Grief upon grief was laid up, and while my years were but green, another departure tore assunder unhealed wounds. Yet much I saw of foreign lands, and much I learned of diverse tongues and customs, and came to be estranged from the land of my birth and kindred, whom I saw little.
At last my father served abroad as a warrior-scholar for the last time, and set apart a season to contemplate and begin a new labor, but he knew not what that labor should be. In that time, we tarried in the land of my birth and of my ancestors, America. I was young of heart and innocent; my eye had not yet been turned at the sight of women. But soon the season came upon me, and maidens fair abounded, or at least, I suddenly thought so. But my ways were unpleasing to them, and they shunned me. I forsook my naivete and donned duplicity as daily rainment. I betrayed myself and all bonds of friendship but for the lust of my eye and my flesh. Yet it availed me not …
I’ve been trying to prepare for life after the baby is born. I’ve spent so much time learning about pregnancy, but that only lasts nine months! So, I’ve been attending La Leche League meetings to get the scoop on nursing, and I’ve met a lot of great ladies in the process. I’ve heard so many horror stories about nursing, so it’s been good to talk to women who are actually in the midst of it.
One of the women I met has also sold me on these great all-in-two cloth diapers from My Precious Baby by April. They’re kind of expensive, but extremely well-made. I ordered a couple to try them out. If they work well, I think they’ll be well worth the initial investment. And they’re so much more fun to look at! I’ve also been checking out an online forum on cloth diapering. I’ve found some helpful tips there, but sometimes it seems like they’re making it far more complicated than it needs to be!
I’m also attempting to make my own Maya Wrap baby sling in order to lug our little bundle around. They actually give you the pattern and sewing instructions on their site, as well as free access to their instructional video! That’s a great company, if you ask me!
I’ve been reading a bunch of books, too, while I’ve got the chance. I read The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, written by La Leche League. It had a lot of good, basic information on breastfeeding - sort of the Breastfeeding for Dummies - but there were definitely some aspects of their philosophy that I did not agree with, particularly their view of disciplining children (I still don’t understand what that has to do with breastfeeding anyway!). I’m also reading Your Baby’s First Year: Week by Week and The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Pregnancy and Baby Care. I think these will be much more useful as references once our little test subject has arrived. Robert is reading Becoming A Father. He also gets to hear all of the highlights from my books!
We both intend to read The Happiest Baby on the Block since we saw the video in our childbirth class. The author also has a website. Anyway, the gist of the book/video is that the first three months of a baby’s life are really like the fourth trimester in that they really miss the womb. So, this Dr. Karp has outlined five different steps for calming the baby by simulating aspects of the environment of the womb. Really, it’s not as messy as it sounds! These five things are swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging and sucking. The great thing about these steps is that they’re all actions that the father can do just as well as the mother, so Robert is really excited about trying them out.
baby birth books diapers
