Blogging Challenge

So, my little brother asked me to do some co-blogging with him, and occasionally write on a mutual topic at the same time. I agreed, and then promptly did not attend to the first request. I am now a week late. But maybe I can make you understand my hesitancy…

Here is a small excerpt from my brother’s post:

"I’m currently reading Hilter’s Scientists: Science, War, and the Devil’s Pact by John Cornwell. The book tackles extremely important issues regarding the role of scientists within a society and their political and moral obligations. I found myself thinking that the introduction alone would have made a fantastic reading assignment in my undergraduate engineering ethics courses."

While the description of the book he’s reading uses phrases like “tackles extremely important issues” and “moral obligations”, the book I was reading was called “Zorro” and the cover featured a dramatic black background with a behind view of woman dancing in swooshy red dress. It would not have made a fantastic reading assignment for any kind of ethics course. It was the kind of cover that I was embarrassed to be seen with, so I tried to hide it while reading during lunches.

This isn’t actually a book I would have picked out for myself, but a woman here at the lab had seen me reading another book (“Love in the Time of Cholera” – which I mention in the side bar to the left) and somehow equated the two, because the next morning, I came in to find this copy of Zorro sitting on my desk. I had thought I might keep it for a while, and then hand it back, pretending to have read it, but then one day I got bored and the next thing I know I’ve got my nose buried in Zorro, and I couldn’t stop until I was done.

I wouldn’t call it a great novel by any stretch of the imagination, but it was entertaining, and a fairly brainless page turner. It focused on the origins of Zorro, and the events and people that turned him into the legend he became, rather than on his adventures once his name had been established. I don’t know much about Zorro, but I gathered a lot from what I was being fed from the book. At times, I almost chuckled out loud at how conveniently she made it all wrap together. Taken prisoner by a pirate in a dashing poofy pirate shirt! Zorro appreciates the shirt and considers what it would bring to the black costume he has been preparing for himself… See what I mean? I’m not proud.

I think part of the blogging request was to write about why we like to read what we do. The books my brother is concentrating on right now are all non-fiction (I think) – informative, historical, and largely scientific. I do like to read history at times, but the bulk of what I read tends to be fiction. I guess I read largely for escapism – to look into another world. In “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, Azar Nafisi talks about the importance of reading fiction – that it teaches us empathy for people who are not like us and in places that we do not know. I like to remind myself of that at times – makes me feel a little better about my aversion to any kind of self help book.

I’ve now started reading “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. Like Brock’s book, it was also a Christmas present – but mine has a big “Costco Buyer’s Pick” on the cover. So far I’ve learned that it’s a good thing my childhood dream of being a trapeze performer in a circus didn’t come true, because living in a circus sounds stinky. See – I get informed, too!

Oh, while I'm talking about my brother... for anyone who's asked about the results of his video contest, the winner was announced this week, as he announces here. Thanks to everyone who I bothered with a vote request! I will make it up to you by using some of my work time to watch a video of your choosing.