Juan Carlos Perez Carlos Perez من عند Oteapan, Ver., المكسيك
Cusk creates characters in desperation from spirit-crushing maternal responsibility. Some were unbelievable to me, others were agonizingly spot-on. I think every mother has experienced the loss of self in the mundanity of motherhood, making this one sadly relatable, even downright depressing. Worthwhile, however, for its harsh reality, mood-creating prose, and for reader/character commiseration.
The Pillar of Fire is the spiritual autobiography of psychiatrist Dr. Karl Stern (1906-1975). It describes his journey from liberal Judaism to Marxist Dialectical Materialism to Orthodox Judaism to Christianity and Roman Catholicism, while simultaneously becoming a doctor and neuroscientist, and experiencing the horror of Hitler’s Germany. What is refreshing about this book, apart from the author’s warmth and intelligence, is that Stern unites within himself what is often artificially opposed; Music, Art, Social Justice, Science, Religion, and Psychology all find their places. Near the end of the book, Stern writes: “I have said that in entering the Church one does not have to give up any single positive value one has ever believed in. You think of yourself as a traitor to your past. You think you have to leave Goethe behind, or Tolstoy, or Gandhi, or Judaism, or whatnot. But there is nothing which is good in all these things which you do not find again in the Church. Now it is ordered and synthesized. It is molten in Christ.” The last chapter in the book is a letter to the author’s brother, at the time living on kibbutz in Israel. It is an incredibly prophetic analysis of twentieth century society, and worth the price of the book. Published in 1951, it is out of print, but if you can find it, please read it.
Well written and a good picture of Godel, his work, philosophy and the times he lived in. There would be more starts up there but for 2 reasons: 1 The book goes through thumbnail sketches of Godel's famous proofs and then a more involved version, but even after the more detailed explanation I still felt like I had only scratched the surface of it. Some of the things asserted about the process of Godel numbering seemed almost magical as a result. This is a tough balancing act for any popular take on technical subjects. (See David Foster Wallace's book on Cantor and Infinity for the same "Great Discoveries" Series if you want read more about the difficulties of writing a book like this.) Still, I wanted a little more. Since these proofs are crux of the book, this was disappointing. 2. The book spends surprising amount of time on Wittgenstein but he seems tangential at best to the story. It's interesting to read about him, but it felt tacked on.