The Greatest Day in History

The twentieth century was a time of rapid change, both societally and technologically. Since much of this change was a direct result of conflicts that engulfed the world, it is important to properly understand not just the events, but the human cost and the common person's understanding of the world as it had been. 

In his work The Greatest Day in History, Nicholas Best provides a uniquely human-centric view of a global issue. Rather than simply outlining the facts of the final week of the Great War, Best uses first hand accounts of people in different countries to create a wider context. It provides a more personal connection to the people on the ground who experienced the tumultuous period. The resulting book is a much more compelling and emotional narrative. 

Furthermore, I feel like this period in world history was underrepresented in our educational system. Since the United States had less of an impact in the first world war, it received about as much time as the Spanish-American War, which, if measuring by human cost, either vastly undervalues the former, or overemphasises the later. Other details, such as the Entente requesting the surrender of more planes than the Germans possessed or the request by the Germans to keep more machine guns to suppress their Bolshevik uprising definitely did not make it into our classrooms. 

Best pulls no punches in describing the world from the perspective of those who saw 11/11/1918. He talks about the terror, the brutality, and the shear chaos that was at hand, not shying away from the painful truth that even as officers knew that 11:00 Paris time would be the end, they sent their troops at the enemy in an effort for more personal glory.

Ultimately, this isn't a must read. Most won't find it too interesting as it is a bit in the weeds. However, for a fan of history, I would recommend this well written and well researched work.

Accessory to War

Everyone draws the line for what they consider ethical in their own way. It's especially evident when looking at career paths that end up tied to more controversial areas. Among many of my classmates, deciding whether or not the defense industry is a morally bankrupt industry lay at the forefront of major choices. Specifically, as engineers, many of us had to chose whether or not we are willing to work for companies that support the military industrial complex. And if we're okay with it, how far are we willing to go. However, engineers are far from the only profession facing this quandary. Historically, conflict and scientific progress have been closely linked. 

One of the most outspoken astrophysicists, Neil de Grasse Tyson, and his coauthor Avis Lang, intend to address this issue in Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military. In it, the beginning starts with the astrophysicist's view of their professional conferences getting getting roped into the wars in the Middle East. I'll come back to this later, but Mr. Tyson clearly is a pacifist, but in expressing this, his is up in arms against those who are less so.

Following this opening, the focus of the first half is on the history of astronomy and optics. Then, by shifting via the discovery of infrared and ultraviolet spectra to phenomena that are not directly observable, the focus shifts more to other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and their applications. The Space Race, understandably, also prominently features in the work. This part of the content, historical overview, is great. It's in depth, well written, and overall a fascinating tale of human ingenuity and creativity. The Space Race portion also included modern scientific and military applications, including the ISS.

Ultimately, I have a bit of a bone to pick with the tone of this book. Neil de Grasse Tyson is free to believe astrophysicists are unwitting tools whose pure intentions are bent to the military's will and corrupted against the better nature of the scientists. Listening to him, you get the impression that astrophysicists are pure, enlightened beings elevated above Earthly concerns like war and aggression. At the same time, he regularly speaks of the physicists, engineers, and chemists who actually design and build weapons of war in condescending tones. He's entitled to his opinion. However, I'm also entitled to mine. And I think that he sounds like someone who I would not want to grab a coffee or a beer with.

Although the history of optics, observation, the Space Race, and astronomy/astrophysics was engaging, I don't think I recommend this book. These are fairly niche topics that most won't find particularly engaging (I mean, learning about the optical glass production rates in pre- and post- WWI Germany is starting to push it even for me). Final verdict - read it if you really like the intersection of physics and history. Skip otherwise.

An Edible History of Humanity

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the most fundamental requirements for humans are those addressing their physiological needs. Specifically, these are the fundamentals of food, water, shelter, and the like. As implied by the title, An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage looks at human evolution and history through the lens of what we eat. This is actually the second of Standage's books that I've looked at, the first of which was called A History of the World in Six Glasses. Food and drink are joined at the hip, so it is suiting that both are by the same author. 

The tale of food and human development is as old as time. Or at least as old as humanity. The chronologically laid out history began from the effect that cultivation had on human behavioral patterns. Settled societies are the important point, but I'm particularly interested in the negative aspects of this change. Since the diet went from what ever could be foraged to primarily the farmed crops, the variety in foods was significantly reduced. As a result, more diseases, like rickets, sprung up, along with other health issues. This is especially noticeable in skeletons, which showed a decline in height when compared to hunter gatherers.

To avoid fully retelling the book, I'll just say that there is an in-depth exploration of cities and societies organizing, the connection of food to social hierarchies, and the effect of the New World, and even the modern effects on global population. But I want to skip back a bit to the military history section. I already knew that tinned foods came from Napoleon's quest to feed his troops, but this offered a great tie in between military operations and food supplies. From Alexander the Great to Rommel, provisioning troops plays a vital role, and I learned quite a bit.

Overall, the book is well written and an enjoyable read. I rather liked it and would recommend it, but don't think it's a must-read, due to the slightly specific audience that this would appeal to. 

Living up to glory

    When I finished writing about Ready Player Two, I kept thinking about sequels. In particular, the whole aspect of living up to the original really was on my mind. In general, it seems like putting out follow ups worthy of the original material is a challenge for the best-told stories. The stronger the original, the harder it is to have a worthy successor. For instance: Jurassic Park is iconic. The second and third? Well, I don't think I've even seen them. Terminator? The first is amazing. Somehow, the second is fantastic as well. And then... disappointment abounds. 

     Interestingly, the same does not necessarily apply to prequels, as shown by Star Wars. The original trilogy transformed the world. It set up new expectations for science fiction, world building, and what can be shown on screen. Then, it actually followed up with prequels, rather than sequels. Episodes I-III don't try to build on the work of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford. Instead, they attempt to build up the world and explain how the Empire came to power. And conceptually, this plays on a whole different set of literary tools. Since the plot is known, I don't care as much about the story, more-so it is the characters that matter. And although the prequel trilogy is far from perfect, it laid the ground work for what is arguably the greatest example of world-building and character development: The Clone Wars animated series. As a child-oriented show, of course there are a fair number of stupid jokes, etc. But there is a wealth of themes and stories that honestly feel more relatable now as an adult, then they would have been as a kid. In fact, when I was seventeen, I actually regularly discussed the series with a Star Wars obsessed nine year old. And we both loved it. But for different reasons. To him, it was a tale of adventure, with funny gags, and lots of shooting and sword-wielding Jedi. To me, it was a fall from grace, the tale of estrangement from friends and confusion. Anakin's world crumbles as his childish optimism is replaced by the bitterness about an unjust and society's obdurate unwillingness to push for reform.

    The sequel trilogy has no chance to live up to this. Instead, it devolves into a mess of factionalism with conflicting storytelling by directors vying to tell their opinion. Gone is the mystique of Star Wars - the shiny and polished appearance of the Republic Era, the harshness and moral grayness of the Empire years... And it isn't just the fact that Disney took over. In fact, they also filmed a couple prequels, like Rogue One. And guess what? That's one of my all-time favorite pieces of Star Wars media. 

    Fundamentally, I'm forced to believe that the issue lies in the whole concept of sequels. Let great stories live alone. They deserve to rest on their laurels.

Ready Player One and Ready Player Two

There is a certain level of meta-criticism when a book centered on a nostalgic view of what made up the cultural zeitgeist of an earlier era itself sees its influence grow. Ernest Cline's 2011 book Ready Player One captured audience attentions and simmered in the collective subconsciousness for a few years before I reached high school and got around to reading it. After the 2018 film adaptation by the same name, hype around the work grew again, leading to a subsequent sequel, Ready Player Two, released in 2020.

Both books follow a similar form, with the main character chasing a quest hinged on solving riddles and finding clues in a virtual reality. It's a fairly run of the mill story building structure, but the narrative doesn't seem to be the main goal. The language is also very basic, which almost feels like it's targeting a younger teen audience. 

Herein lies one of the main problems. I'd mentioned the cultural component because pop culture from the eighties and nineties basically builds the foundation for these two works. Nary a page goes by without a direct reference to movie, book, song, or show from those decades. And most of the time it's directly called out by the characters, beating the reader over the brow with this endless barrage of callbacks. As I said earlier, the simple writing style also seems to target a young audience, so I'm probably far from the only one who grew up well after the cultural era described. Hypothetically, if Cline was targeting folks between 13 and 15 years of age at the release of the first book, they would have been born in the late 90's, and have been too late to grow up with the pop culture in question. And by the time the 2020 sequel came out, the same target audience was born at least half a decade late. If someone grew up in that era and culture, I can see the nostalgia pulling on their heart strings. However, I didn't. And frankly, those references started to become a bit annoying.

Ultimately though, since the plot is built on the callbacks, it might be impossible to be more subtle about it. Each step in those quests requires deep knowledge and understanding of the eighties' and nineties' pop cultures, so without their prominent role, the plot wouldn't be moving along.

It might sound like I'm bashing the books. However, beneath the surface, I did find quite a bit to dig into. Looking past those references and good vs evil narrative, there is a great deal of world building. The "real world" is a dystopian future Earth, where the ravaging effects of global warming, resource exploitation, and overpopulation leads to a society that is barely scraping along. To cope with the hopelessness, most people spend their days in the OASIS, a virtual reality simulation where people work, go to school, and have fun, avoiding the harsh realities of the real world. In the OASIS, there are (seemingly) countless worlds, built on lore surrounding all the aforementioned pop culture. As characters travel from one to the next, their surroundings are described in detail. It truly feels like it was written by a devoted fan of those cultural icons. 

The second book felt weaker than the first. Perhaps since I read the first as a teen and the second one years later, the writing style was grinding my gears more in the sequel. However, while the first focused on the importance of teamwork, I found myself starting to really consider what reality truly is, the spectrum of morality, and what the soul of a person is. I'm not convinced that this was the purpose of the writing, but I do sometimes start to overthink things. Anyway, if a book made me start philosophizing, it probably has deeper meanings, even if I don't realize it.

Overall, the books are an interesting combination of an easy read with the potential for deeper character analysis. You can enjoy a simple story or you can nitpick to understand both the characters and yourself. I'll leave it to you to decide which route you'd like to take.