I remember saving up credit card reward points for a long time and finally being able to afford this – more than a decade ago. It had a pride of place in my bookshelf, but I never really read it, mostly because I used to read the strips online and in newspapers. During the Covid lockdown, books weren’t getting delivered. It was the perfect time to pick up an all-time favourite. The set consists of four books, each around 370 pages. I didn’t read them in one shot, and took a break after each book. The first book begins with an introduction to the life, thoughts, and philosophy of Bill Watterson. It’s an amazing story of belief, values, and perseverance. Some of it did remind me of Calvin’s Dad. 🙂
Before I start, I have to ask, when is the next collection coming out? Can’t. Wait. I read “Stories of Your Life and Others” about 2.5 years ago, and was blown not just by the quality of the stories, but by the sheer range of subjects from physics and mathematics to language and theism, not to mention artificial intelligence. Exhalation has nine stories, and each of them is a work of art.
I tried to deconstruct Ted Chiang’s magic, and for me, it came down to three aspects – the imagination to think up the most original and profound questions, the skill to weave it into scenarios that make it relatable and accessible to the reader, and the ability to articulate his perspectives in such a way that one is forced to engage with them and construct one’s own thought exercises!
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is Arabian Nights in terms of setting as well as nested storytelling but beneath all that is a dizzying tale of time travel that questions whether one can really change the past. “Exhalation”, after which the book is named, has an alien setting but with a dash of steampunk and robotics. The core of it though is what makes it profound – entropy and its inevitable conclusion. “What’s expected of us” is the first of the stories that deal with free will, and goes directly into the heart of it, with a first person narrative of one’s reaction when confronted with immutable proof that it doesn’t exist! The Lifecycle of Software Objects is an excellent take on artificial intelligence, with clear parallels to parenting, and the underlying thought that “experience is algorithmically incompressible”and that the “common sense that comes from twenty years of being in the world” cannot be achieved by compiling heuristics. The parenting theme continues in “Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny”, but in a different direction, definitely sadder.
“The truth of fact, the truth of feeling” is simply brilliant, and has two stories that show the parallels when there is a fundamental shift in technology, both around memory. If I really had to choose, this one would be my favourite. The Great Silence is a poignant juxtaposition and a sharp commentary on what we’re missing out on by rampaging through other species. Omphalos is a very interesting take on creationism, and a contemplation of how it would be if humanity were really the reason for the universe, and were literally too, at the centre of it. “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” is the last story, and probably the most imaginative. It mixes parallel universes and free will, and delves into the meaning of the latter when many parallel “branches” (emanating from a decision) are playing out.
No story is the same, or even similar. When I read some authors, I think to myself that if one really had to write, then this should be the benchmark. In speculative fiction – my favourite genre, Ted Chiang is that author!
Across the world, the gap between the 1% and the remaining continues to widen, and the US is arguably the best example of this. How is society at large allowing this to happen, why aren’t politicians doing something about it? After all, elected representatives of common folks are supposed to work for their welfare, how is that structure failing?
In Dark Money, Jane Mayer provides an insightful and well researched analysis of how libertarian industrialists like the Koch brothers are systematically undermining the effectiveness of the US electoral system by flooding it with what they have in abundance – money! Hundreds of millions of dollars spent to impose their worldview on how government should be run. The “simple” worldview being that government oversight of business is an encroachment of freedom! In this world, social welfare and labour protection are unnecessary expenditure, while taxes on wealth should be minimal. Not that I am a theist, but Godless America!
The narrative starts in the late 40s, during the formative years of the Koch brothers. Influenced by LeFevre’s “government is a disease masquerading as its own cure”, Charles Koch’s political evolution began early, and with help from like-minded and wealthy others, it led to a well oiled machinery that operated outside the world facing political establishment, and yet has now managed to practically take over the Republican Party.
From the 70s, when the rich got a sense that they were being over-regulated, they had started a privately financed war to ensure their philosophy won. A big a-ha moment was the result of an understanding of how to use their riches to preserve their elite status, beyond the obvious means. This was the weaponisation of philanthropy, and the book provides the background on some prominent players like Richard Mellon Scaife, Joh M. Olin and the Bradley Brothers. The steady formation of the Kochtopus machinery is a fascinating read, and one has to admire the strategic brilliance that is at work here.
It’s not just ensuring the preferred candidates win, or even that only preferred candidates would stand for election. It goes well beyond, and starts at the grassroots. Using the anonymity of charitable organisations, they went systematically to the bottom of the value chain and thereby started funding online high school education, academia, think tanks, influencing public policy, lawmaking (including the judiciary via seminars and junkets), creating and stoking political activism – Tea Party agitations for instance, spreading alt truth like “climate change is a myth” by spending millions on media and micro-targeting, changing regulation on candidate funding and thus creating the phenomenon of superPACs, and finally even pushing out moderate Republicans, and in the words of one Republican, “supplanting the party”. Using money, coercion, and every means possible. Essentially they created institutions and networks that would manufactur ideas that follow their philosophy, converted that into action points through think tanks and academia, and got them executed through activist groups, lawmakers and politicians. A system that feeds itself and creates a world in its own image.
The irony of it all? Donald Trump. Firstly, though the machinery was successful in making Obama a lame duck president in his second term, ensuring the Republicans controlled the Congress, and thereby laying the base, he was not their choice of President. In fact, he tweeted in contempt about those Republican candidates who went to the Kochs for assistance. Secondly, he used their exact methods to win the election. However, it isn’t called a system for no reason – it controls the people surrounding him, and is thus, pretty much in charge.
The book is superb in terms of research and pacing of the narrative, with details and context setting that make it a fantastic, absorbing read. It’s not just American politics, I think this will be the narrative of politics and society in many places. A must read, in our own selfish interest!
Eleven stories that take you on a rollercoaster ride of myriad emotions. As the blurb promises, the stories provoke and entertain.
The subjects range from mythology, fantasy and social media influencers to murder, sexuality and horror. That last one (The Itch), I thought, had the potential to spin off into a standalone book/series. There’s also a mix of narrative styles – first person, letters, a YouTube monologue. What this achieves for each story is a character, flavour, and mood that is uniquely its own. What also stands out is the complete lack of a pattern, including the pace of the narrative. Some proceed at a leisurely pace, while others pack a lot in within a few pages.
In just around 150 pages, there are worlds and corners that you will discover. I have at least five that I liked a lot. Smoke & Mirrors and The Herpetologist for the insight into the human condition and the empathy, Mariam’s Tears for the absolutely bizarre pop in the middle of the book, The Price of Apples for its innocence and sensitivity, and Kalika for the smart dose of philosophy. Pick it up to find your favourite. 🙂
(I know the author, but though I feel really happy for her, I can safely say there is very little bias in the review)
Towards the end of the book, the author cites a survey which found that “almost a third of Americans would rather give up sex for a year than part with their mobile phone for that long”. Sex has been hardwired in us by evolution, and it’s a testament to technology that it has managed to hack even that! But then again, there was a time when even the printing press was called the biggest source of distraction. So this isn’t a new story. But we do live in a world in which the attention economy has optimised its notifications and nudges to ensure that it is heard/seen/felt. All the time. Whether we need it or not. It has us hooked and sometimes we don’t even know how much!
This is the challenge that Nir Eyal writes about in Indistractable. He approaches it with a simple framework of internal and external triggers and distraction and traction (some nifty wordplay, that). The first thing to focus on, he says, is our own motivations – internal triggers. Not just the proximal reasons that are making us distracted, but the root cause. Our distractions are more often than not a way of escaping something we do not want to confront. He also believes we never run out of willpower and warns us against labelling ourselves as “easily distracted” or “addictive personality”. An opinion that I am not sure I agree with.
The rest of the book is a step by step guide on how to get to an “indistractable” state – from making time for traction (things we value) to taking control of external triggers by various means in personal and professional lives, and in social settings as well as when you’re by yourself. The suggestions are practical and quite doable once you decide that they need to be done. Ironically, the section that I found most interesting was how to inculcate this quality in children. Ironic, because I don’t have any. What made it interesting was the logical approach, one that seemed quite feasible.
The book keeps it simple, and is a good guide if you find yourself distracted more often than you’d like to be. I have been doing my own wrestling with “staying in the moment” for a while now and found most of the things mentioned a validation of what I try to practice.
