Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman - Book Review #328

 

Yes.  THAT Nick Offerman.

I was surprised by this book.  I was expecting an up front humour of the human condition.

What I got instead was a thoughtful look at our mixed up, crazy, complicated and nuanced world.  

The primary point of the book is to explore how we cannot continue living, as a society, the way that we have.  This will ruffle many feathers.  But feathers must be ruffled to create lift and move us forward.

Wow! That metaphor was a stretch, eh?

The book is broken into three parts, a hike with some friends, time spent on an English sheep farm (or is it a ranch?), and a cross-country camping trip with his wife.

Through these experiences Offerman offers insight into how so many people are getting things right, by respecting the land and the ecology.  How others are fixing the errors of the past.  How he was inspired, and in turn trying to inspire others to do better. 

I was reminded of Bill Bryson's excellent book A Walk in the Woods.  Both authors have a mastery of the English language.  Bryson's used with his excellent dry wit.  Offerman wrestles the language to the ground and bends it to his will.  He is a muscular linguist.

I was lucky to have enjoyed the stories in audio book format.  Nick Offerman reading his own work was a sublime experience. 

100 Things We've Lost to the Internet by Pamela Paul - Book Review #327

 

The author is the editor of the New York Times Book Review.

A lot of what is on the list is obvious, telephone booths, land lines, paper books, and cameras.

But she not only delves into what is lost and how it has changed but how personal each technology and interaction was.  

Some things have been gained while others are missed.

I found the book balanced and humane.

Would I go back?  No way.  I like living in the future.  Most of my everyday experience today is what I dreamed about when I was young. 

This book helped me remember where we've come from without feeling sad about it.

It's just an exploration of how things have changed in the span of half a human lifetime.  This kind of reflection is important to be aware of since all of the innovations in the book have crept up slowly.  It's easy not to notice.

Thank goodness there are people out there who do notice and take the time to share it with us.