Me gusta leer y ver la tele

Thursday, March 22, 2007

I'm Back, I'm Back From The Future!

It's been like a month since my last post, so I thought I'd drop by and help finn5fel carry the heavy load that is the daily updating of this blog. And, because it's also been like a month since I finished one book I promised I was going to talk here about, it's only fair that I'm reviewing it now.

The Plot to Save Socrates, written by Sunny Jhanna's first Guest of Honor Mr. Paul Levinson, is a very fast-paced and entertaining book. If I needed two months to finish it, that clearly wasn't because of the book itself, but because of my own problems to maintain a comfortable and satisfying reading schedule.
The Plot..., IMHO, is very well written and, to me, the plot is very intelligently crafted. Since the story centers around a bunch of different characters that are able to time travel, and all through it they meet and part and meet again, it would have been completely understandable that the reading process were confusing and misled the reader into a tangle, forcing him to reread entire chapters time and again to understand what's going on. But Paul Levinson designed his book not to be an indigestible account of facts, but a comprehensible and appealling story. So, he tells this story through a lot of micro-chapters that compel the reader to move forward and flip pages like a maniac. And this chapter disposition also achieves one more thing: it eases and empowers the reader into the sensations of time travelling and of being immerse in a circular never ending story.
It even may be difficult for the reader (i.e. me) to not run into a lot of loose ends that thicken the plot in the first few chapters, but when the end of the book is near, they magically start to reveal themselves, and everything fits perfectly into place, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. That, for instance, is the case of the unexpected final revelation of the book. Spoiler-free as this post is, I'm not going to give it away, but I'll say that I really didn't see that coming. And, this is the best part, it makes perfect sense into the story and almost forces the reader to a second reading.

I only have two little objections to make, if they can be called that. The first is that it seemed to me that in the first chapters all the characters bought very easily the time travel thing. Nobody, that I remember, was suspicious about any person claiming to be a time traveller. Not even the first time they met. And not even in ancient Athens. Then, I saw that it all had an easy and satisfying explanation, but I will not say more, again because of my spoiler-free politic.
And the second thing... Why is so important to save Socrates? Until the very end is not properly explained why the characters do what they do, but I really would have liked some more light regarding that on the first chapters. But then again, that's the book I'd have liked the most, not the book everyone would have liked the most. So my opinion here, I understand it, is worth less than naught.

I'm going to finish saying how much I really enjoyed the book. It's about time travel, so, what's not to like? And it deals with the countless paradoxes and consequences of it, but not too thoroughly. Because, from my point of view, this is a book aimed to entertain the reader, not to instruct him. Or, at least, it does both things, but the former is its main and more important goal.
So, as old finn5fel would say: this is a very compelling story and, in sum, a wonderfully crafted book that you could do worse than checking out. Go read it, and thank me later. Enjoy!

13 comments:

Mario Alba said...

Cool! I'm glad you liked it, especially because I know you're usually wary of time-traveling stories.

As to why saving Socrates would be so important, I'm gonna hazard a guess and say that well, he is one of the most brilliant minds in the History of the world. It'd be like saving Leonardo or Michaelangelo, had they needed any saving. It would be a way for mankind to get more out of this genius, and to benefit from his wisdom.

And for anybody reading this and not willing to spend their money, the paperback version came out last month, so now you have no excuse not to read the story!

Nash said...

Yo tengo una escusa y es bastante bueana...no estara en español :-)
Espero que pronto pueda leer yo tambien el libro y poner mi critica.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I'm sorry about all the grammatical and whatelsetical mistakes that I've made on writing the post, because I posted it on a hurry this morning, and I've spotted two or three now that I've read it again. And I'm not going to edit it, to watch in the future my past mistakes (not traveling by chair, that's for sure).

I agree on that, Fel, on reagrding Socrates' importance. But, then again, why? Why Socrates? One of the most brilliant minds on the History of the world, I agree. But, I mean, History is History, and, if Socrates can't openly help Humanity (because of he must remain unknown), what could he possibly provide? Even more, could he possibly make some insightful contribution to the mid twenty first century world? Socrates, with his, albeit great, 500 b.C. mind?

Eso sí, el libro es muy bueno, y desde aquí yo también se lo recomiendo a todo el mundo. Otra vez. Y especialmente a Nash. ¡Para lo que ya no tienes excusas es para aprender inglés, pirata!

Mario Alba said...

I guess the idea is that, with a mind like his, he could "easily" adapt to the 21st century, and thus provide valuable insights.

Regarding the actual value of his thoughts and musings, well, I guess that also depends on the value you give to philosophers' works and musings. Personally, I think some make more sense than others, and while some might be reasonable, some others were, not to put too fine a point on it, on crack.

This leads, I guess, to a debate of the real use of philosophy and how what thinkers and philosophers do and say can be used in the "real" world, as opposed to just building castles in the air and being scholars and babbling academics. Obviously, Michaelangelo could sculpt formidable works of art in the 21st century if he time traveled, and thus his hypothetical contributions would be more tangible than Socrates's would be in the same century. Which means that yeah, I'm not sure what Socrates could give us, other than the advice not to drink hemlock ;)

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA!!!

A quick comment to make something clear: I have studied Philosophy (maybe that's an exaggeration), and I don't find it in any way trifling. I mean, it's not put to use too much nowadays, and the world would certainly be better if we acted hastily a little bit less and thought calmly a little bit more.

What I meant is: why the characters of the book are so damn concerned about the safety of Socrates? A man of seventy years of age who died because he wanted to die? Apart from the madman obsession issue of one character and the futility of going against one's own destiny, of course. Two very convincing reasons, now that I think about it.

Anyway, to make a short comment short: I love Philosophy, and I'm not that very fond of hemlock either. ;P

Nash said...

Tengo una muy buena escusa, estoy estudiando valenciano que lo necesito para las oposiciones de profe...en cuanto sea profe y viva tan bien y relajado con el amigo fin aprendere ingles, ire a clases de pintura de muñequitos y en verano ire a visitar el mundo, mientras tanto tengo que priorizar lo que estudio, que curro 40 horas semanales minimo y ahora me he buscado otro semi curro.

Mario Alba said...

Maybe if Paul Levinson visits us, he can enlighten us.

Y Nash, date prisa en vivir bien, que quiero que me visites!

Anonymous said...

Dos trabajos, y luego en tu tiempo libre te pones a estudiar idiomas. Todo sea por el bien mayor. Y las vacaciones de profesor.

Nash said...

Si la verdad es que viendo como viven los prefes y siendp como somos nostros que pasamos de todo...si no te deprimiras o te darian ganas de matar a niños y padres, es un trabajo genial te lo recomiendo Halagan, si tienes la oportunidad intentalo.

Anonymous said...

Un par de amigos míos ya trabajan de profesores, y desde luego que no viven mal, eso seguro. A mí no me importaría serlo, pero por otra parte, como bien dices, Nash, tiene sus cosas malas. No cualquiera lo aguanta toda su vida con una sonrisa. Qué mejor prueba de ello que fijarse en los profesores que tuvimos en secundaria. Menuda panda.

Mario Alba said...

Hehehe. Estoy de acuerdo en que no es un trabajo para todo el mundo...

Anonymous said...

Sinceramente, yo no sé si valdría para eso. Aunque si mi clase estuviera llena solamente de chicas adolescentes, no iba a decir que no. Porque arman menos jaleo que los chicos. Solo por eso.

Mario Alba said...

Hahahaha. Supongo que es verdad; aunque hay alguna en mi clase que no me importaría amordazar o sedar para que se estuviera quieta...