Down the Rabbit Hole

Source Goodreads

Who better to illustrate Alice in Wonderland than Salvador Dali?

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser is a beautiful insight into the seemingly nonsense of Lewis Carroll's classic children's book, Alice in Wonderland. It is a collection of articles from numerous philosophers that all take a trip down the rabbit hole to shed some light on this childhood fantasy. You don't even have to be an avid lover of Alice in Wonderland to enjoy what these brilliant minds are doing: pulling logic from curious stories and turning them into greater truths about life. The subject matter ranges from feminism, to nuclear strategists, to drug use, to procrastination, to logical lessons, to what's reality, to language and etc. Oh, and there is also mention of the Spice Girls, which is enough to bring this Posh Spice imitator back to Wonderland in a hurry.

Down the Rabbit Hole

The (good and bad) problem is that many of the authors hit upon the same stories repeatedly. I am pretty sure everyone mentioned going "down the rabbit hole" (and really my mention was a slight sarcastic nod of appreciation to the writers). They all had different perspectives on the same few stories, which is a good way to learn and open your mind. It is a testament to human diversity that one passage can bring so many different interpretations.

       I was in love by the first chapter which is about Alice being a feminist. The writer is also a teacher and she gave her class the assignment of discussing their favorite unruly fairy tale heroine. Alice was chosen by two students and this prompted the author to contemplate the feminism of Alice. Without all the logic jargon, Alice is truly her own person. She goes where she wants to, does what she likes, and ultimately takes control of the situation (her proclaiming that they were "only a deck of cards" and stating that she could control her own dream), despite being a girl in a strange world. Which turns into a great lesson: you are in control of your life.

The Rabbit Sends in Little Bill

     Alice's story being just a dream leads to the question of what is reality. Is it just our perspective or does life go on even when we are not around? You'll have to read the articles and form your own opinion, because they both give some pretty convincing evidence and that's a larger argument in the philosophic world that I don't want to paraphrase from reading a few articles. But it is worth dipping into in the context of Alice's highly amusing and silly story.

     The nuclear strategists article is fascinating to see the connections made (I bet you just know it is about the Red Queen), but because I am not a nuclear strategist, it did not have much resonance for me. The connections though, teach us about another level of creativity and knowledge. Steve Jobs said that creativity is just making the right connections and having a broad sense of knowledge, so you never know when this knowledge will come in handy for your next creative endeavor.    

     As far as philosophy books go, this one is written for the general public and the authors truly have fun with the subject matter, while taking it to a whole new level for the reader.

The idea of this book is brilliant because it takes this crazy little children's book and turns it into a book full of life lessons and revelations. Examples: Alice is a strong female lead character to look up to, that things are not always what they seem, that you should question things, keep an open mind, adapt to reality, think logically, do not judge based only on your perspective. You'll learn to think deeper about nonsense.

     Alice's trip down the rabbit hole is the ultimate life lesson: take the jump, go for it, try something new, and take a peak at a new perspective.

Advice from a Caterpillar

    

The Mad Tea Party (and my desktop background)

Germinal

My Goodreads.

Summary that gives away some things, but not the big ones.

     Germinal by Emile Zola is a tragic story of mine workers barely surviving and working harder each day more than most people do in a year. This book is set in the late eighteen hundreds in rural France.  It is about a starving man searching for work, starting work at the mine, starting a strike, and leaving as the strike ends with no improvements. It is a story about indignation and the pursuit of justice/equality. It is also undercut with a love story that may never be realized, but it is certainly not the main aim of book (unlike most fiction ad movies nowadays). Zola mainly presents Etienne's perspective, but he also lets the reader into the lives of other miners, the managers, and the lazy rich. This allows the reader to see many points of view and shows the intricacies and problems of class separation. Although it shows some of the problems that stop the miner from living comfortably, it also makes you dislike the rich because they blame the poor wretches for their plight when they really have no other option but to live in poverty. They work hard and do not get the pay off, whereas, the rich barely work and do get the pay off.      After two months of starving and begging for food, the strikers become violent for a day, then the army gets called in, and they settle down into peace until foreign workers are brought to work their mine. The miners become violent again and the result is death for many of them, but the event becomes a national tragedy that finally forces the board members to settle the strike. They do this by posting sighs that say if the workers go back to the mine, they will start to review their grievances. The miners return to work and nothing changes. Their wages are still cut just like before and their lives are just as hungry. But hopefully, the seed of revolution was planted and change will come. The miners are resigned to the fate for the time being. 
     This was an incredibly depressing book that is worth the read because it is written by Zola, it will open your eyes to the class injustice of the past, and make you appreciate how equal life is now. I would check this out of the library, it's not a story that compels one to read again (unless you love Zola and are into the working man's plight).

Contemporary Cultural Relevance

With the Occupy movement protesting against the control the 1% has, this just goes to show that history repeats itself: the rich are still in control. Life is better, there are rules protecting workers now, there is welfare for the poor, and everyone has a chance at education, but the rich are still running the world. This book shows how far humanity has come and how far we have to go.

Life Lessons

"When a man had a woman in his heart, the man was finished, he might as well die."

"Silence is for bumping into yourself."

     

       From the pursuit of absolute silence, to why we hear, to why we make noise, to what we are doing about noise, and to the middle ground of noise and silence that produces a little more quiet each day, is just a sample of the myriad of subjects covered in George Prochnik's In Pursuit of Silence.  During his pursuit of silence, the revelation came when absolute silence produces more noticeable noises. Because of the wish for silence and because of silence, the slightest noise is amplified, creating annoyance for the pursuer.  That is something I acutely noticed while reading this book. I could not have any noise going, but what was absolutely deemed necessary by me (like the air conditioner in a torrid southern climate). Anytime someone intruded upon my silent cone, I had to search for the calm again. This book will make you more aware of the danger of noise throughout your daily life.
      The realization that silence equals wisdom comes as an early ah-ha moment. You've always know that quiet is where ideas and revelations appear, but understanding that quiet is the best place to flesh out ideas because there is little to distract the thinker. Other people may be able to listen to music and multitask while thinking of ideas, but the best way to get to the bottom of something is in quiet.

 "...our brains are always searching for closer. When we confront silence, the mind reaches outward."

He looks at the solutions to noise and they are mostly about subduing it, not trying to solve it.

"...what happens when we try to create complete soundproofing: somebody ends up getting smothered. Their gasps for air will grow louder and louder until we surrender the fantasy of total noise control. Because, in the end, we are born into this world screaming as loud as out tiny lungs can howl, yet simultaneously terrified of loud sounds and demanding silence in order to sleep."

      Prochnik even takes it so far as to examine what the government is doing to regulate noise.  Which makes this a well rounded examination into most of the perspectives of silence. The only question I had about the book is why he explored boom cars as one of the most extreme examples of noise making.  It is just not clear why he choose that particular form of noise making when there are so many others and why exactly he did not look into other examples of extreme noise. That is the only thorn in my foot about this book. Yes, some of the sections on how your brain works and how your ears work are a little boring, but that is my personal aversion to learning about the inner workings of my body. (It gets me all tingly).
     Ultimately, his solution to noise is to educate the public on the harmfulness of noise and the benefits of silence while creating more places in urban environments where you can enjoy peace and quiet. 
     This books main theme is the pursuit of quiet, not silence. In quiet we can hear the birds singing, the wind blowing through the trees, and the steady flow of traffic, just to be reminded that the world is full of wonder.  Silence often leads to noticing more annoying noise, but quiet allows you to hear all the normal noises at a low level, just perfect for getting things done.
Anyway, enjoy this book, savior it in silence, and just appreciate the quiet.
 
Quotes
"The pursuit of silence, likewise, is dissimilar from most other pursuits in that it generally begins with a surrender of the chase, the abandonment of efforts to impose our will and vision on the world."

"...the larger idea of silence as a break, a rest, a road to reflection, renewal, and personal growth is one that resonates with many people."

"...the problem was that without silence people had no ability to understand one another."

"Even brief silence, it sees, can inject us with a fertile unknown: a space in which to focus and absorb experience -- a reminder that the person we are with may yet surprise us; a reflection that some things we cannot put into words are yet resoundingly real; a reawakening to our dependency on something greater that ourselves."

"Indeed, if there's nothing else to hear, at a certain point our own ears will often begin to make sound."

"...noise is sound that makes us, for the time it's there, cease to distinguish between the beings and objects outside us. Noise enables us to forget the larger world."

The Beginning

      The nickname Goddess came from a drunken rant by the same guy who introduced me as not a donator to charity even though that's my name. He was disappointed in women, drank too many Jack and cokes, and I was the only female at his pity party. We were at this imaginative place called Mr. Pizza, which was one of three places you could eat late in Savannah and it was close to our dorms. He was saying that all women were so lame and then he looks at me and says, "Except you. You're like a goddess." Best compliment ever?! And then that started a whole thing of having worshipers and who was the best and well it still gets mentioned in a lot of catch up text messages.
     Charity is my name and Goddess is my nickname and charity is a wonderful attribute to preside over. Goddesses did not always live up to their attributes, so I don't necessarily have to talk about love, but I am going to discuss my love for books and other amazing things.
     But first here is an example of Goddesses not being very nice. There was a competition of who was prettier between Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena, and they turned to a man named Paris to judge the competition because he was said to be an excellent appraiser of beauty. All the goddesses offered him different things if he chose her. Hera promised to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena promised that the Trojans would win against the Greeks, and Aphrodite promised that the prettiest woman in the world would be his. He picked Aphrodite's bribe and that lead to the Trojan War.

This movie isn't the most amazing, but it tells the story pretty well. Image source

      The goddesses started by fighting with each other and ended with fighting, when they really should have just said, "Screw it. We are GODDESSES! We do not need some mere mortal telling us who is hotter. We are all beautiful." That really would have been the better moral, but those Greeks were all drooling for the gossip of their gods personal lives and tragedies.
     But I am going to be a goddess in a different since than a Greek and Roman goddesses. I am going to give the attribute of book love. I have a wild, untamed passion for reading. Mostly fiction, art history, psychology, and I'll dip into other genres, but that is the meat of it. I've racked my brain to figure out how to turn this passion into a career without the writing part, but now I have come to terms with writing. I want to remember the books I read, I want to take them to a whole new level, and well, nothing is worth anything unless it is shared.