Just Finished Reading: The Gothic – A Very Short Introduction by Nick Groom (FP: 2012)

What do you think of when you hear the word – Gothic? Music? Dress Style? A dark foreboding? A semi-ruined castle complete with the rustle of bats and a full Moon? Or do you think of ancient proud peoples trading with and occasionally fighting the Romans at the edge of their Empire? Or do you think of medieval architecture and its revival in the 19th century that was responsible for so much monumental (and arguably hideous) buildings in major cities across the globe?

All of these aspects of ‘the Gothic’ are covered in this delightfully entertaining and informative little volume. The Gothic spirit (pun intended) seems to have been around for millennia and has embedded itself into the very bones of western culture from buildings, books, movies, music, fashion and art. It invades our lives through the love of things that go bump in the night, to the frisson of ersatz terror and the almost visceral feeling that there might be something sitting there, waiting and watching just beyond the edge of the light.

The Goth, in all its form, represents the dark side of the human psyche, the non-rational, superstitious, animalistic side of our nature. As science and rationalism progressed throughout the west the Gothic progressed too by using the latest technology – printing, film, sound recording – to keep itself alive and ever present in the shadows of the flickering candle, the gas light and even the electric bulb. It is not surprising that some of the first novels and the earliest examples of cinematography had explicit Gothic themes as both media seemed to be the natural home for this richly complex idea.

Shining muted lighting into the dark corners of this wide ranging cluster of genres this book is indeed an excellent introduction to the idea of the Gothic. More importantly maybe it has an excellent bibliography that I shall, no doubt, be digging real future gems from – though only during a full Moon of course!  

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: The Mongols – A Very Short Introduction by Morris Rossabi (FP: 2012)

Seemingly appearing from nowhere in the 13th and 14th centuries the Mongols carved out the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen covering the whole of China and stretching from Korea to Russia in the north and Syria in the south. For a time they washed up on the edges of Western Europe and even threatened Christendom itself. All the more surprising considering their humble beginnings and their ultimate demise.

In this fascinating and detailed short book (a mere 124 pages) the author unearths the Mongols origins as a wild, disconnected and unorganised disparate group of warring tribes eking out a subsistence existence on the wild open spaces of Asia. Reliant on their horses for almost everything they needed they supplied the rest by occasional raiding of the more settled farming areas and with trading any surpluses they had in times of plenty. This is likely to have been their entire (largely unrecorded) history if it wasn’t for the emergence of a leader of one small band of nomads who had much greater ambitions – Chinggis (or Ghenkis) Khan. Slowly accumulating power by defeating tribe after tribe in combat or absorbing them into his super-tribe through marriage or treaty the great Khan eventually became a regional power to be reckoned with. With increased wealth and the power that came with it even walled cities could not stand against him – initially safe behind their fortifications they failed to account for the Mongols hiring mercenaries adept in siege craft. As their power increased so did their wealth, as their wealth increased so did their power. Whole provinces fell before them or paid tribute. Local tax collectors made sure that the money kept rolling in and the Mongols themselves kept their empire expanding ever outward. Of course things couldn’t last. No empire expands forever and no statesman, no matter how gifted, lives forever. When Chinggis died the infighting began over a successor and the great empire descended in to a period of civil war.

When a strong leader finally appeared it was already too late. The empire had become a federation of tribes made up of traditional nomads, new city dwellers, Muslims, and much else besides. Periodic warfare between the various Khanate's became endemic and the Mongols disappeared from history.

One of the many interesting asides in this intriguing little book is the idea, floated by several European powers, that sections of the Mongol Horde could be persuaded to attack the largely Muslim Middle East either in co-ordination with the Western Crusade or on their own in the pay of the West thereby eliminating an enemy of both. Obviously the plans, possibly naïve, came to nothing as the Western Kingdoms squabbled amongst themselves and no real consensus appeared. It is however interesting to speculate what the world might have looked like after Islam had been destroyed by the Mongol invasion of the Middle East. I’m sure there’s an Alternate History novel/series in there somewhere! Detailed, with a wide scope and a decent bibliography this is definitely a good place to start if you want to find out more of this enigmatic, violent and surprisingly cultured group of peoples who have a huge influence on Eastern and Far Eastern cultures – and luckily not on Western Europe.

Cartoon Time.

Thinking About: Growing Old

I had my first Flu shot yesterday. After two winters of being very ill I really didn’t want to put up with a third. I couldn’t help thinking last year that this is how old people die – luckily I’m not there yet. Although I am starting to relate to some of the older people I see each day, hobbling about as best they can. Of course I’m only 54 so have got some way to go before I need my walking stick or motorised wheelchair but I can feel it in my bones sometimes – especially as winter approaches.
Statistically I’ve got another 20-25 years left though it seems these days that you longer you live the longer you might live. It’s difficult to know what medical advances will emerge and trickle down in the next two decades or so. What I don’t intend to do is spend too many of my remaining years in work. I’d like to retire at 60 if I can so that I can spend some time doing a PhD – something that I’ve wanted to do for some time now. Also I really can’t see myself dragging my flagging body out of bed in the early hours in my 60’s to be stuck in traffic on the way to the office. Personally I’d rather be poor at home and eating cold beans out of a tin – but we’ll have to see if that’s a practical possibility or not. What I’m not looking forward to (understatement of the year) is being ill in my advancing years. Inevitably you hear horror stories both in the press and from people you know about relatives being ill and being in and out of hospitals and homes for years or even decades progressively slipping away. It is not something I can think about with complete equanimity. My other concern is the possibly decline in my mental faculties. I like thinking and debating too much to view such things with indifference. Hopefully my questioning, to so nothing of my belligerent, nature will keep that prospect at bay as long as possible. Luckily I have known several people who were in their 80’s and beyond who could still argue and think with the best of them so it does happen.

Of course there is an upside to aging – enhanced personal freedom. I have never been one who enjoys being told what to do. With each passing year I become less and less controllable – much, no doubt, to the frustration of those at work who are tasked with ‘managing’ me. I don’t see this changing as my age advances – quite the contrary. After I retire I’ll have no one to answer to – except myself. I suppose the trick at that point is not to completely ‘let go’. It’ll be an interesting challenge I think. Certainly from this perspective I can’t see myself becoming more responsible. I don’t know though. Is my old age an opportunity to become less responsible (or more irresponsible) or simply more of an opportunity to find out who I really am (if I don’t know already)? I should certainly have enough time on my hands to sit and ponder the ‘meaning’ of my life as well as thinking about the Universe and Everything (again hoping that my mental faculties are up to the challenge!)

I certainly intend to keep up my ‘studies’ for as long as I am able, both informally with my reading (much more time to do this without having to work 5 days a week) and hopefully formally with a PhD (if only I could think of something to do it on!), since I doubt that my drive to know will diminish as long as my mind is capable enough to still seek out answers to all of the questions still buzzing through my brain. It’s when I think about all of the stuff I don’t know that I wish the hardest to be able to extend my lifespan indefinitely into the future. Purely science-fiction at this point I know but I can still dream. I know several of my friends are actually horrified by the thought of living for hundreds of years (or longer) but I’d embrace it as long as I was reasonably OK physically and mentally. What I couldn’t stand (presumably only in lucid moments) is indefinitely extended senility. That’s my horror story! I expect, however, that such things are still decades in my future. For now I feel little different than I did 20, 30 even 40 years ago – in my head anyway. More experienced, more knowledgeable, less naïve, less optimistic but still essentially me. The plan is to spin this feeling out until I shuffle off this mortal coil…. At least that’s the plan.    

Just Finished Reading: Engineering – A Very Short Introduction by David Blockley (FP: 2012)

The great thing about the whole VSI series of books is that it allows me to ‘dip my toe’ into new subject areas (or to reacquaint myself with topics I may have studied decades ago) in order to expand my knowledge base – rather than ‘simply’ deepening it. Engineering, along with related fields such as architecture and materials science, is one of those areas I have recently developed an interest in (as you would have seen in some of my recent reviews) and this is another foray into that largely undiscovered country. Unfortunately, despite covering a huge area of potentially interesting subjects – everything from jet engines to electromagnets and silicon chips to vast information networks – this slim volume proved to be rather dull and uninspiring. Rightly, I suppose, the author assumed minimal knowledge of the subject from his readership and proceeded to either dumb the subject down so low it became tedious and frankly insulting or wax esoterically and lose me completely. He may have been aiming for a happy medium but didn’t hit anywhere near that balance as far as I could tell.

Fortunately I am not the kind of person, or have reached that level of maturity (heaven forbid!), where a single disappointing book will not put me off a topic or subject of interest. So, more engineering type stuff in the future – maybe something a little more focused, something with a little more depth and, hopefully, something with a whole lot more zing. As always watch this space.

Cartoon Time.