The Effect of Reading Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" on E-Reading: Just Say No to Distractions

Posted on March 5, 2012 by williamjcobb

So here’s a little (naive) gem in the NY Times this morning, an article about the lure of online distractions while e-reading titled “Finding Your Book Interrupted … By the Tablet You Read It On,” which contains this quote: “Can you concentrate on Flaubert when Facebook is only a swipe away, or give your true devotion to Mr. Darcy while Twitter beckons?” Here’s a ground-shaking idea: Get off Facebook/Twitter for a minute, you twit! Concentrate. Focus. Have some discipline, maybe? Now part of me acknowledges that’s easier said than done—not the ignoring Facebook part, as I have yet to drink the Kool-Aid of Facebook userdom, though the plastic cup is beckoning. No, the bigger picture, of having discipline and ignoring other more tempting aspects of the Internet—such as all the cool stuff—that’s what I know is easier said than done. But not impossible. Self-discipline seems to be out of vogue of late.
Which leads me to another mention of Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (2010), still my favorite book of 2012 (finished at the very start of the year). It’s technical in a good way, explaining various science about the way memory works and how web surfing can affect that process in a negative way. It also contains some convincing defenses of the effects of e-reading and internet data availability by various scientists, which is to say it’s not a lopsided, anti-Internet rant.
What do I find most important about it? After reading it I’m more than ever aware of the temptation to surf away from what I’m reading, and to be distracted. I find it easier to resist that allure, being aware of it. Most of my reading right now is either in e-books or online, though I did just read two new print books in the last month—and two new e-books, too. Plus I dabbled in a number of others, including Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, supposed to be a Great Novel, which I found to be a Great Bore. I’m going to try to finish it, but the beginning is trite and tedious, all about yuppie families, hohum.
Here’s the url to that NY times article, and a picture of Nicholas Carr:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html?_r=1&hp

Posted in books, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing | Leave a comment

Did William Gay Really Write His Books? Meddlesome Neighbors Want to Know

Posted on March 4, 2012 by williamjcobb

So there’s an obituary of Southern Gothic master Wiliam Gay in last week’s daily NY Times (Feb 29th) that I almost missed, which has a few illuminating details and quotes, such as describing his novel Twilight (2006) as “textbook Southern Gothic” (which I think is accurate: It’s not one of his best books but it certainly is true to Southern Gothic genre) and his own feeling of never fitting in, either as construction worker or intellectual writer: “I’ve always felt sort of like in between things,” he said after he had given up his life as a laborer. “Like I fit in when I was working construction. I more or less could do my job. I didn’t get fired. I got paid. I could do it. But it was always sort of like working under cover. Now when I’m meeting academic people and going to these things they have, basically it’s still the same thing. I’m still under cover. Then, I was sort of a closet intellectual passing as a construction worker. Now, I’m a construction worker passing as an academic.”
But it ends with the best quote:
“At his death he was about to turn in a new novel, tentatively titled “The Lost Country.” Aware of the oddity of his late-blooming writing career, he was often reminded of it by the people he lived among. When he began to be published, a woman he knew asked him if anyone was helping him to write his books. “I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ ” he recalled. “And she said, ‘Well, I knew your family a long time, and they’re not that smart. I knew you when you were younger, and you’re not that smart. I was wondering if you had somebody who took out the little words and put in the big words.’ ”—http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/arts/william-gay-novelist-rooted-in-tennessee-dies-at-70.html?pagewanted=2&ref=books
That’s a sign of quality fiction, when you reach Shakespeare Conspiracy Theory territory, in which someone considers the writing so good that they don’t think such an uneducated, unwashed lout such as you could have written it. I also love that idea of a writer’s job (or perhaps an editor’s) as being one of “taking out the little words and putting in the big words,” though I rather think Ernest Hemingway would differ, such as his famous quote about Faulkner’s writing (and Gay is most definitely a literary son of Faulkner):

“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”

The obit doesn’t mention that The Lost Country was due to be published for a long, long time. I heard through the grapevine that he had been working on this novel for many years, that it was rumored to be his masterpiece, until the manuscript mysteriously disappeared from his home. It was believed to be stolen. I don’t know if it’s true or not: One of the details to back that up is that he wrote in longhand on yellow legal pads, and the novel was a great stack of those. It’s a cool story—How many writers have had their novels stolen? Many of us are lucky to get the books read, much less stolen before they are edited and set in print. Gay must have been doing something right. And I’ve theorized that he simply rewrote it from memory (as I recently did with my novel The Bird Saviors, after I lost the entire first draft to a harddrive crash, with no backup!), and that’s what caused the years-long delay in the publication for The Lost Country. If we’re lucky, maybe a complete manuscript exists, and will be published posthumously by his estate.
A friend (Yo, Morris!) and I did a postmortem on William Gay, especially in relation to Cormac McCarthy, after my comment about his being a “Poor man’s Cormac McCarthy, which is a good thing to be.” He pointed out Gay had moments where he surpassed McCarthy, and I agree, in one particular form of fiction: Gay wrote a handful of short story Classics, without a doubt: “The Paperhanger” is the most obvious there. McCarthy is our great novelist, and he left the short story arena open for Gay.
In honor of his passing, I think we should all reread his best fiction, and watch his two films, like this one:

Posted in Art, books, books/film, writing | Leave a comment

Reading Noah Hawley's "The Good Father": Or What To Do When Your Son Assassinates a "Good" Presidential Candidate

Posted on March 2, 2012 by williamjcobb

So right now I’m reading (and reviewing for the Dallas Morning News) Noah Hawley’s new novel, The Good Father (appearing this month in bookstores) which is about a father whose son has assassinated a presidential candidate: The story so far is quite good, but you know this is FictionWorld because the candidate is one the ENTIRE COUNTRY believes is good, and instills in them an idea of Hope. He’s not the Obama kind of hope, obviously, because one of the miracles of Obama’s election (and, I hope, reelection) is that he was able to commandeer so much support from our famously factious nation in which hope seems at best to affect 51% of the electorate at any given time. Only two weeks ago it seemed some important amount (no way 51% I “hope”!) of the population thought nutcase Rick Santorum a viable candidate for president. It seems his recent opinions—anti-sex, anti-education, anti-thought, but pro-God!—have taken the wind out of his sails, but still . . . . That he has won primaries is enough of an embarrassment for our nation, even the fact that we (well, not me, but someone out there, many millions in fact) are taking him seriously. On that note, if you’re curious, check out Tim Egan’s fascinating breakdown of some of the minuscule numbers of votes cast in some of these Republican primaries, here, titled “The Electoral Wasteland,” in the NY Times recently:

Noah Hawley’s novel The Good Father is a bit of a page-turner, with the son’s (alleged) assassination occurring at the outset of the story, which then sets in motion his father’s search for the Truth. That the presidential candidate seems to fit the mode of many presidents in FictionWorld, such as Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact or Bill Pullman in Independence Day, is, I think, a minor quibble. After all, Hawley is also a screenwriter, which entails much broadstroke wishful thinking. In the more realistic mode, Hawley is doing a good job of portraying a parent in those difficult, horrendous circumstances, and leaving his behavior—past and present—up to the reader to judge, whether we think he’s a “good father” or not. Hint: I’m glad I don’t fit his profile of a Dad.

Posted in books/film, Politics, The West | Leave a comment

R.I.P. for William Gay, Contemporary Southern Gothic Fiction Master: the Day the Banjo Music Died

Posted on February 25, 2012 by williamjcobb

So a friend sent me this notice this morning, and I’m sorry to hear it: William Gay, author of The Long Home (1999), which my editor, Greg Michalson, edited and published; I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down (2002), which includes the masterpiece creepy story, “The Paper Hanger”; and Provinces of Night (2000), his best book, in my opinion. He was a great Southern Gothic writer, and although he may be viewed as a poor-man’s Cormac McCarthy, that’s a pretty good thing to be. McCarthy casts a titanic shadow over that literary genre, and the best of William Gay gives him some good competition. For years now I’ve been waiting for his last novel, which has been slated to be published since 2005, it seems, titled The Lost Country. I guess we’ll have to keep waiting. He had two good films made from his fiction, Bloodworth and I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down. Here’s a notice about his death:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/countrylife/archives/2012/02/24/william-gay-acclaimed-tennessee-author-dead-at-68

Posted in books, books/film | Leave a comment

On Charles Murray's "Coming Apart": It Comes Apart at the End

Posted on February 25, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I have to say this about Charles Murray’s just-published, semi-controversial look at the state of White America, Coming Apart: The State of White America1960-2010: I read it all the way through to the end, rather quickly, too—in a few days. The book succeeds in its collection and collation of some fascinating demographic info, such as about the decline of marriage, how many white males are out of work, and the dangers of “cohabitation” (I thought that was one was almost humorous). But I’d have to say it falls apart at the end. Murray (like Santorum) dismisses any idea of changing the tax code structure to increase the (sometimes minimal, outrageous) taxes paid by the top 1%, in part arguing it is “politically unfeasible,” while at the same time he announces himself as a Libertarian—which the last time I looked, meant “politically unfeasible.” At times he seems to gloat about the “virtues” of the Upper Middle Class and the New Elite, while only paying minimal lip-service to the rampant greed that caused the Great Recession and many financial debacles of the last decade. He implies that the Upper Classes (a narrow definition in his framework) don’t divorce, that we would all have richer lives if we just went to church, and that the problem with the New Elite is that they don’t preach their virtues to the slovenly working classes, which seems a bit laughable. He also relies on surveys about Happiness at one point. I don’t know what I’d say in a survey about my own happiness level, but I can’t say that it would matter one way or the other.

Posted in books, Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Review of Thomas Mallon's "Watergate" in the Dallas Morning News

Posted on February 20, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I’ve reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel Watergate in the Dallas Morning News today, and it can be found here:
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20120217-book-review-watergate-by-thomas-mallon.ece
Janet Maslin reviewed the same book this week in the daily NY Times book reviews, and I thought her gushy, over-the-top paean to it was embarrassing and suspect: There were some lively moments in the novel, but she made it sound like the next best thing since flush toilets. Of course, we all know the adage about opinions, and that’s what book reviews essentially are. But still. I tend to flinch when seeing gushy book reviews. One I remember a couple years back: Jonathan Lethem raved about Lorrie Moore’s novel A Gate at the Stairs (2009) in the Sunday edition of the NY Times. So I read it, and felt cheated by Lethem. Then again, every industry probably has its share of brown-nosing. I’ve known other reviewers who have confessed to me they’ve raved about this or that book because the writer is a friend of theirs or a friend-of-a-friend, or some such reason. The lesson is? It pays to suck up.

Posted in books, Politics, writing | Leave a comment

The Year Without a Winter, and Just How Many Republican Voters Does It Take to Pick a Kook?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by williamjcobb

So as we slide down the (snow-free) hill that is the rest of February 2012—usually the coldest month here in central Pennsylvania, temperatures usually below freezing, and often in the single digits at night—I think we should (un)officially start dubbing this one The Year Without a Winter. Our temperatures here have been over 40 for most of the last month, almost unheard of in this neck of the woods. It’s weird. The only thing I’m glad for: lower heating oil bills. But climate-change deniers be damned, this is a sign of things to come. And although the deniers are over-represented in the media—in this country, unfortunately—mostly I ignore them, except when I can’t: Joe Nocera recently had a pro-Keystone XL pipeline op-ed in the NY Times, here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/opinion/nocera-the-poisoned-politics-of-keystone-xl.html?_r=2
What isn’t mentioned: Nocera was a former editor at Texas Monthly, and his “Texas rich,” business-is-good attitude is effecting his myopia here. Yes, in the short term the pipeline would mean more money and business (for Texas and other states), but in the long run, as many have pointed out, the exploitation of these tar sands will likely spell our doom, and some have pointed out Texas may be greatly affected by drought, as it was last summer. But the political good ole boys in Texas (my home state, which I love, and know many intelligent people there who are embarrassed by its politicians) don’t believe in climate change at all, or simply want the money now, to hell their children’s future. Take this little gem about the water commission report, which doesn’t mention fracking or climate change at all:
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/02/16/426122/water-gate-texas-state-drought-never-mentions-climate-change/
Lastly, it’s no secret that the Republican party is basing its Know-Nothing identity on “questioning the science” (read: taking Big Oil payoffs) of Climate Change, and Timothy Egan in the NY Times has an eye-opening column about just how few people are actually voting in all of these wacky Republican primaries, favoring one nut job (Santorum) over another (Gingrich), alternating them on a weekly basis, in a desperate attempt not to nominate the front-runner Romney.

Here’s also a good piece in the Climate Progress blog refuting Nocera: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/02/09/420143/joe-nocera-joins-the-climate-ignorati/
And actually, the wacky Republicans could (or perhaps “should”) all be extras in this wacky movie:

Posted in books, Climate Change, Education, The West | Leave a comment

On Reading Charles Murray's "Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010": Changes in College Attendance and the Blue-Collar Work Ethic

Posted on February 15, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I’m reading Charles Murray’s much-talked-about analysis of the state of our States, Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010, and I have to say that so far it’s fascinating. I’m on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Murray, and it’s an understatement to say he doesn’t score any points with me when, early on in the book, he cites David Brooks’s Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (2000) for some demographic data and cultural analysis, as I find most of what Brooks writes to be the glib pronouncements of a conservative dimwit. And I know enough about Murray’s “conclusions” (although I haven’t reached that section of the book yet) to say I find them rather ridiculous. But the beginning of the book, which focuses mainly on the changes in the U.S. between 1963 and 2010, is lively, if a bit disconcerting. Mainly it’s a matter of the maldistribution of wealth, of the rise of greed and inequality, and the breakdown in a strong American work ethic. I’ve noticed these things as well, and would draw very different conclusions than Murray, but he does quantify them in interesting ways. He contrasts the enormous differences in wealth in the upper classes of 1960 and 2010, essentially our country returning to a Dickensian tradition of “the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.” College attendance and graduation is also a great contrast between 1960 and 2010, with many more people going to college now, like through online colleges, but those who don’t in a much worse off position than in 1960, when good working-class jobs were still available.
And I should confess that I’m reading it this election year in the same way that I often check out the CNN website: to see what mainstream, conservative America is thinking. If I only look at liberal news, I get a skewed viewpoint—more to my liking, of course. But I want to know what all those people who think Santorum is a legitimate presidential candidate are thinking. Part of me thinks, How crazy are they? And part of me thinks there must be some real disconnect and outrage to fuel ridiculous candidates like Santorum or Gingrich.

Posted in books, Education, Politics | Leave a comment

On Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" & Thomas Mallon's new novel "Watergate"

Posted on February 11, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I’ve recently reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel titled Watergate, due out this week, I believe, and watched Terrence Malick’s acclaimed film The Tree of Life (2011). First off, Malick’s film is gorgeous if at times a bit pretentious and melodramatic. I watched it on my home system, which is a nice HD TV with sound connected to speakers, but the whispering voiceover was irritating, though it would be much louder and more comprehensible in a movie theater. I won’t be giving anything away to note that the storyline, what little there is, concerns a trio of brothers and their parents, with a kind of style and feel similar to Malick’s outstanding Badlands (1973)—lots of close-ups of beautiful nature scenes contrasted to moody humans. Brad Pitt plays the father, and although I’m no fan of his, I’d say he does a fine job in the role, and has more personality now that he’s older, shedding some of his pretty-boy plasticity. The ending made me groan a bit, with its images of all the characters walking along, reunited in some netherworld heavenly beachscape, but overall it does make you think, which is one thing art should do. And the entire film is visually amazing, captivating, which is certainly most of its charm. It’s one of the few films that I’d say is actually “haunting.” Malick already has two new films in the works and due out some time in the future, and I’d run to see them.

Thomas Mallon’s Watergate seems an election-year tome, with its various characters—most of them based on actual people, though with some admitted fictional maneuvering—depicting the debacle that was the Watergate scandal. I’d say it’s fairly sympathetic to the conservative goons who ran the country into the ground (at that particular moment in time, as opposed to the current conservative goons doing their best to do the same thing again), especially Nixon himself, who comes across as petulant and moody, but hardly diabolical.

Posted in books/film | Leave a comment

William J Cobb on books & film