Books

Over the weekend, I left Cryptonomicon at the office, so I had to settle for reading whatever my predecessor left in the apartment in the mornings while waiting for stuff to cook, etc. My predecessor seems to have strange taste in books, or maybe some of the stuff is just for Japanese people to try because a lot of it is young adults' books. Here's what I read:

Tuck Everlasting - I think this book is relatively famous, at least for kids/tweens/whatever. Anyway, it tells the story of a girl who stumbles upon the Tucks, a family that accidentally made themselves immortal. It's pretty heavy-handed and written in that style of a kid, who doesn't really get the obvious metaphors. Everything has to be laid out, everything happens "as if..." something else. I guess that's kind of condescending, or maybe it is just the author's way of recording a kid's feelings of not being able to put into words their own feelings. Either way, it is kind of annoying, and the book itself is pretty stupid. It is essentially like a bad episode of Twilight Zone where they keep trying to tell you that being immortal would be bad, when it is pretty obvious that the only things that are bad about the Tucks' lives are that they are too stupid to manage being immortal properly.

Bridge to Terabithia - Also famous, I think, since there was recently a movie made about it, and also probably aimed at 10 year olds. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the story didn't involve the kids actually creating some magical kingdom through the powers of imagination or some such fantasy rubbish. Instead, it was just kind of a coming of age story, I guess. Actually fairly compelling, despite the probably necessarily condescending style. The characters are well-drawn, and I even grew to like Leslie, the little girl. Although it is fairly obvious she is going to die ("But what if you die?"), it is still sad that she does.

Thus Spake Zarathustra - This book is what made me wonder about my predecessor's tastes. Obviously very different. I have only made it a little into this book. Despite what the notes by some pompous idiot that are included in the back say, this book is terrible and Nietszchhchezschge or whatever is clearly an idiot. I guess I shouldn't have expected more out of it, since basically all philosophers are idiots. Philosophy makes me angry because it is still an accepted subject of study, and even linked to math because they are both "logical." The difference is clear, though. Mathematics is all about clear, simple axioms, and rigorous proofs, whereas philosophy is about wild, unfounded assumptions and "logic" that is hazy at best. It would be like including an astrology class in with astronomy because they are both about stars.