The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes

Ever heard about Oedipus complex? It is a psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud.

I heard about this complex long back but never gave it much thought. It was a bit absurd but that was what makes it complex. But like a lot of other theories, this one is also comes from Greek mythology where an abandoned boy eventually killed his king father and married her mother (without knowing).

This is a story and like all the mythological ones, this comes with cues, symbols and imagination. There is no real evidence that such a behaviour exists but a form of over possessiveness by kids towards parents which leads to more complications in the adult age is qualified as Oedipus complex. It rarely has any marriage or sexual consequences involved but a twisted emotions between the parents and children.

And, that is the part which gives the writers a lot of room to imagine and retell the old myths. This one is exactly the same. It tells the story of past and present together, one chapter after the other, which is, at times, a bit confusing to connect while reading. But the story eventually comes out well.

Most of the storyline is same which you can find in any traditional Greek mythology book, and it is the work of the writer to put flesh and meet on the bones (the basic structure of the story).

It is not the best fiction on Greek mythology but if you don't know much about the myth, it might interest you. And, it does leave you with puzzling about what was true because there was none.

Love

French Braid by Anne Tyler

It is a generational novel which starts in 19050s till 2020.

I picked it up from aisle just like that but after reading so many serious ones, this one was a breather.

It is a story of families, and the different personalities in it. It has all the characters that you can find around (even like Mercy who turned their lives altogether).

We never know how we love our families. How to like, dislike or pass them all our lives. But then it is true for almost everything. The not so clear impressions about the people around us make us wonder what did we miss. And, we do notice when there is something which we don't consider normal yet.

Real nice read.

Love

The Dead Are Arising by Les Payne

Is it better to read a well researched biography or an autobiography?

Whatever be the answer, both of them come with the writer's bias. Even if a well researched biography may tend to omit some details or it is less likely to gloss over the things.

So, I picked up a biography over an autobiography. And it confirmed when it tells you the incomplete or missing or inflated incidents in the narrative.

It is difficult to judge a person who comes from a different time but one thing which we can see is that Malcolm made the wrong choices. He was always a hustler with intelligence, wit and oratory. However, he just couldn't choose the right path. Even after the early life situations/mistakes, he ended up choosing a religion with a misplaced identity of a leader. He was devoted to this leader and its cause but blind to a lot of obvious points which he chose to ignore. Violence was never a solution which is why civil movement was far more successful as compared to any other armed conflict. It is a long way but a one worth following.

And even after that he still ended up thinking of choosing a religion to be the answer of a problem which was more civic in nature than religious. He ended up being the opposite of King with a different religion and violent approach but same goal. The idea of choosing a religion to solve the problem of 22 million people looks more of an emotional choice, and raises the doubt if these thoughts were well evolved before it were put into action.

An intelligent man with the right motives who could have changed the history of America as we know it couldn't outrun his past.

After reading this, reading the autobiography may not be required.

Peace

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Of course I'm reading it for the one word Meta. Just out of curiosity for the origin of the word Metaverse I picked this up.

This is a sci-fi and like most of books in the genre it is a mix of speculations, history, and mythology which is a bit deceptive mix. Deceptive because an inattentive reader will end up mixing all of them with reality, and getting the inaccurate view of the things.

For the book, it has fairly standard narrative with a lot of loose threads which generally leaves the fans of this genre curious for the next in the series.

From a non-sci-fi fan, I've read better unless curiosity for the one word gets you.

Love

Puneet

How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil

This is not a guide to how world works. That is a really complicated topic.

This is more focused on how the industrialisation and science has evolved and contributed to the current state of mankind.

It talks largely covers four important drivers which are steel, food, ammonia, and fuel. But it focuses on a lot of myth busting. The ideas that take root in our understanding without knowing much about how we reached it. And that is the beauty of rationality. It has a lot of number crunching to drive a point why something is different (not better) than other.

It doesn't take side, and just put some arguments based on the numbers. We can always contest the data but that should not stop a discussion. This discussion is important to give us different perspective.

E.g. technical and chemical advances helped in delivering the food requirement of world's rapidly growing population or we can take the example of crude oil/coal as how it contributed a lot to how we live today (a lot of dependence on energy obtained from fossil fuel). But from the advances in both the fields, we saw equally negative effect on environment. Plus this was unevenly distributed which created a myopic view.

We can't turn the clock back and go back to how we were surviving in Palaeolithic age but there are still a lot of things that we can do not only at a global level but also at an individual level.

The world is not coming to an end but we don't have a magic pill either so rather then going for any extreme measure, it would require a more balanced approach and a dedication towards what we want to achieve. Announcing the goals to be achieved in the years which end in 0 or 5 without real action is just a gimmick.

Peace

The Gate by Natsume Soseki

Of course its a classic.

It takes good time to build up an emotion and when it delivers, it doesn't feel like it is some sort of high moment in the story. It goes more like a narrative of a day to day life of a clerk Sosuke and his wife Oyone. A life as ordinary on surface but scarred with its own demons.

Sosuke and Oyone looks like an ordinary couple (this was so made for each other) with their own past. A couple who carry the burden of their love and what it led to. And the story doesn't go into a lot of details, but just drop few hints here and there.

Is it possible that a single decision in life set the whole course for you, and you accept it with no resistance? Is it possible that you can stay passive (stoic) in the face of all the complexities that life brings? A different couple in a different time/place could have chosen otherwise but then it wouldn't have been the same story.

It is difficult to move on, and it could take a lifetime but is the resignation to the fate a solution?

Love