What is Noam Chomsky reading?

Noam Chomsky, the author and academic, talked to the Christian Science Monitor about his movie-watching and his favorite music.

And what he's been reading:

I've just finished a few important books. One is Ha-Joon Chang's Bad Samaritans, a penetrating and expert study showing how and why standard doctrines concerning economic development are dramatically refuted by the historical record and have caused severe harm when applied. Another is Peter Hallward's Damming the Flood. The "flood" is Lavalas, the popular movement in Haiti that won the first democratic election in this tragic country, a victim of French and US torture, and the savagery of a small elite, since it became the first free country of free men in the hemisphere. Hallward's deeply informed account of what he sees as "neo-imperial sabotage" by the traditional torturers explores the background of the coup of 2004 and the persistence of "the flood" in a country that is a microcosm of imperial savagery and heroic resistance, however one interprets recent events.

Check out Chomsky on music and movies.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Ted Kerasote's "Merle's Door"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Ted Kerasote's Merle's Door: Lessons From A Freethinking Dog.

About the book, from the author's website:

Merle and Ted found each other in the Utah desert. Merle was about ten months old, surviving on his own, and looking for a human to hang his heart on. Ted was forty-one, liked to write about animals, and had been searching for a pup whom he could shape into a companion. The training went both ways. Ted showed Merle how to live around wildlife, and Merle reshaped Ted's ideas about the complexity of a dog's mind, showing him how a dog's intelligence could be expanded by allowing it to make more of its own decisions.

Acting as Merle's translator, and using Merle's life and lessons as a door into the world of dogs, Ted takes us on the journey they shared. He explores why the dog-human bond is so intense and how people and dogs communicate so readily with each other. He also uses the latest wolf research — showing that wolves treat maturing pups as partners rather than as subordinates—to explain how sharing leadership with your dog, rather than being its alpha, can help to create a healthier, more self-reliant, and better-socialized companion.

Funny, fascinating, and tender, Merle's Door is a moving love story that reveals how the partnership between dogs and humans can become far more than we have imagined.

Among the praise for Merle's Door:

“It is no exaggeration to say that Merle’s Door could be the best book ever written about dogs.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs

“Merle's Door is a truly wonderful book — iconoclastic, mind-blowing, and gorgeously written.”
—Delia Ephron,author of Hanging Up and Frannie in Pieces

“Kerasote has created a whole new work of art. Merle’s Door is the best, the most utterly compelling translation of dog to human I have ever seen. A terrific book, a superb book, I can’t think of a single other book that conveys the love of a human for a dog so well.”
—Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of Dogs Never Lie About Love

"Merle showed up at the San Juan River at the same time Kerasote and his river-rafting friends arrived. Merle looked at Kerasote as if to say, "you need a dog, and I'm it." He accompanied the group down the river and then went home to Wyoming with Kerasote. A dog who was eager to please and almost trained himself, Merle learned the ways of bison, ground squirrels, and coyotes. Merle then taught Kerasote the fullness of the hunt, leading Kerasote to his favorite prey. But, after Kerasote installed a dog door, the main thing Merle taught him is that a dog develops to his full potential, becoming the dog he was meant to be, when allowed to make his own decisions. Merle developed a life of his own, patrolling the small settlement where they lived with his dog companions, and yet was always very aware of Kerasote and his schedule. In telling Merle's story, Kerasote also explores the science behind canine behavior and evolution, weaving in research on the human-canine bond and musing on the way dogs see the world. Merle is a true character, yet Merle is also Everydog. An absolute treasure of a book."
—Booklist (starred review)

"The trend in best-selling memoirs about dogs sparked by John Grogan's Marley & Me bodes well for this engaging new work by National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Kerasote, who introduces readers to a stray Labrador retriever mix to whom he became attached while on a camping trip in Utah. Their paths cross on the banks of the San Juan River, and for dog and man, life is forever altered. Merle is a free spirit with an enormous zest for life, good survival skills, and the dangerous habit of killing calves — he needs training! But Merle's lessons, Kerasote writes, aren't as much about training as about partnership. Drawing on an extensive and exceptional list of references and including informative background on how animals learn and perceive their world, Kerasote gives readers much to consider that will enrich their own relationships with their pets. His book is highly recommended, but it does come with a tissue alert. And, because people seem to love well-written dog stories as much as they love their dogs, libraries may also want to stock up on similar titles, such as Jon Katz's A Good Dog."
—Library Journal (starred review)

"[A] flat-out wonderful memoir about a stray dog, part Lab and part hound, who attached himself to a kayaker at a campground on the San Juan River in Utah; went home with him to Kelly, Wyoming; and eventually, by virtue of the social and political skills he displayed on his daily rounds of a town in which dogs are permitted to run free, became known as the Mayor of Kelly."
—Anne Fadiman

“A thoughtful look at animal intelligence and the human-dog connection.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Read an excerpt from Merle's Door, and learn more about the book at Ted Kerasote's website.

Kerasote's writing has appeared in dozens of periodicals and anthologies, including Audubon, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Salon, and the New York Times. He is also the author and editor of six books, one of which, Out There: In the Wild in a Wired Age, won the National Outdoor Book Award.

The Page 69 Test: Merle's Door.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Richard Lange reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Richard Lange, author of Dead Boys, his debut collection of short stories published this month by Little, Brown.

Lange tags a classic nineteenth-century novel, a collection of stories set in the border counties of Ireland, and a novel that others have called the Great California Novel. Read on to learn more about what Richard Lange has been reading.

About Dead Boys, from the publisher:

These hard-hitting, deeply felt stories follow straight arrows and outlaws, have-it-alls and outcasts, as they take stock of their lives and missteps and struggle to rise above their turbulent pasts.

A salesman re-examines his tenuous relationship with his sister after she is brutally attacked. A house painter plans a new life for his family as he plots his last bank robbery. A drifter gets a chance at love when he delivers news of a barfly's death to the man's estranged daughter. A dissatisfied yuppie is oddly envious of his ex-con brother as they celebrate their first Christmas together.

Set in a Los Angeles depicted with aching clarity, Lange's stories are gritty, and his characters often less than perfect. Beneath their macho bravado, however, they are full of heart and heartbreak.

Visit Richard Lange's website.

Writers Read: Richard Lange

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Barbara Maria Stafford's "Echo Objects"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Barbara Maria Stafford's Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images.

About the book, from the publisher:

Barbara Stafford is at the forefront of a growing movement that calls for the humanities to confront the brain’s material realities. In Echo Objects she argues that humanists should seize upon the exciting neuroscientific discoveries that are illuminating the underpinnings of cultural objects. In turn, she contends, brain scientists could enrich their investigations of mental activity by incorporating phenomenological considerations — particularly the intricate ways that images focus intentional behavior and allow us to feel thought.

This, then, is a book for both sides of the aisle, a stunningly broad exploration of how complex images — or patterns that compress space and time — make visible the invisible ordering of human consciousness. Stafford demonstrates, for example, how the compound formats of emblems, symbols, collage, and electronic media reveal the brain’s grappling to construct mental objects that are redoubled by prior associations. On the other hand, she compellingly shows that findings in evolutionary biology and the neurosciences are providing profound opportunities for understanding aesthetic conundrums as old and deep-seated as the human urge to imitate, the mapping of inner space, and the role of narrative and nonnarrative representation.

As precise in her discussions of firing neurons as she is about the coordinating dynamics of image making, Stafford locates these major transdisciplinary issues at the intersection of art, science, philosophy, and technology. Ultimately, she makes an impassioned plea for a common purpose — for the acknowledgement that, at the most basic level, these separate projects belong to a single investigation.

Among the praise for Echo Objects:

“Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images, is a spectacular effort of thinking outside discipline boundaries, a sort of interdenominational bible of arts and neuroscience. It is all the more remarkable since the book appears to have required no effort at all, so smoothly and seamlessly it flows from Barbara Stafford’s well-informed mind and dizzying pen.”
--Antonio Damasio, author of Descartes’ Error, Looking for Spinoza, and The Feeling of What Happens

“Echo Objects is an erudite, sophisticated, pioneering exploration of the ways in which modern neuroscience illuminates the world of images, and of the insights that careful, critical analysis of images can provide to neuroscience. It makes many compelling observations, and opens up numerous questions for further investigation and debate.”
--William J. Mitchell, author of Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City

“Inspiring and rewarding, Echo Objects displays great learning and an uncommon ability to straddle genres and disciplines, often to kaleidoscopic effect. At the center of all that colorful flux lies Barbara Stafford’s acute critical intelligence, snuggled like a sniper in a jungle. Cognitive scientists, as well as those working in the arts and humanities, have much to learn from this unique and thought-provoking work.”
--Andy Clark, author of Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence

“Echo Objects argues vigorously for a new understanding of images: one that regards them not simply as products of mental operations but as constitutive of such operations and cognitive processes. This book bristles with ideas and innovative connections that draw together cultural, material, and biological analyses of thought and cognition to prod the reader into rethinking the uses and significance of images. Echo Objects is a book to wrestle and argue with. It will draw each reader into a conversation that will prove important, and for many transformative — a conversation that goes to the heart of the importance of the arts and humanities and to the role they play in understanding science, cognition, and images themselves.”
--James J. Bono, author of The Word of God and the Languages of Man

Barbara Maria Stafford is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Her many other publications and projects include the books Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting, Good Looking: Essays on the Virtue of Images, Artful Science: Enlightenment, Entertainment and the Eclipse of Visual Education, Body Criticism: Imaging the Unseen in Enlightenment Art and Medicine, and Voyage into Substance: Art, Science, Nature and the Illustrated Travel Account, 1760-1840.

The Page 99 Test: Echo Objects.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best: children's books to read aloud

Meghan Cox Gurdon, who reviews children's books for The Wall Street Journal, selected a five best "children's books that are especially enthralling when read aloud" list for Opinion Journal.

One title on her list:

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend; illustrated by John Manders

This brightly colored picture book for young children has a charming narrative rhythm, a happy ending and that indefinable quality that makes it stand up to many return visits. Here a dastardly, yellow-eyed farm cat named Jack constructs a fabulous nest in order to lure passing fowl to lay their eggs in it, eggs that Jack plans to turn into a fabulous omelet. Alas, he is too successful: The nest is first occupied by three squabbling birds, then, briefly, by three warm eggs, and then, to the cat's dismay, by three damp baby chicks. "Hola, mama!" cries the first, looking at Jack. "Sacre bleu! Bonjour, Maman," cheeps the second. And the third--to the glee of listeners ages 4-7--says: "Great balls of fire! Howdy, Ma." This being a bedtime story, it ends with Jack curled protectively around the three heavily accented babies who have adopted him, all fast asleep in the perfect nest.

Read about Number One on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The "Annie Seymour" mysteries, the movie

The current feature at My Book, The Movie: Karen E. Olson's "Annie Seymour" mysteries.

Annie Seymour, a crime reporter in New Haven, Connecticut, is the protagonist of three novels by Karen E. Olson: Sacred Cows, Secondhand Smoke, and the upcoming Dead of the Day.

Olson writes at My Book, The Movie:

When the character of Annie Seymour popped into my head, she was tough, sarcastic and funny and litters her sentences with four-letter words. She is like a lot of newspaper reporters and editors I’ve met through my 20-year career. But I have never actually “seen” her in my head and never describe her physically except that she has wild hair and thinks she’s taller than she is.

Because of that, I never pictured one particular actress, since I would cast less on physical appearance and more on how the actress could capture Annie’s personality.

Read on to see which actors, dead or alive, would make Olson's casting call, as well as who she would have direct the movie(s).

About Sacred Cows:

Yale's stone Gothic buildings tower over the city of New Haven as if they are a part of it. But even though the sidewalks spill into each world simultaneously, there is an invisible line that keeps Yale on one side and the city on the other. When the worlds collide, it could mean murder.

New Haven Herald police reporter Annie Seymour is tough, smart and has a self-deprecating sense of humor. She knows she's too cynical and a workaholic, but she's comfortable with that. She lives in a brownstone in the city's Wooster Square neighborhood, just around the corner from great white clam pizza.

When covering stories for the paper, Annie doesn't let herself get too close to the victims she encounters, so she can keep her objectivity. But when Yale student Melissa Peabody is found dead, Annie's investigation into the girl's secret life brings her closer to home than she expects.

Dick Whitfield, a young reporter, is constantly underfoot, and Annie's boyfriend, Detective Tom Behr, frustrates her with his reluctance to help her get her story. But private investigator Vinny DeLucia is also on the case. They join forces, and Annie realizes it could be the most dangerous story she's ever had to write.

Read the first chapter of Sacred Cows.

About Secondhand Smoke:

When a Wooster Square Italian restaurant burns down, all that's left is some rubble and the body of an unidentified woman. The restaurant owner is missing, and Annie's father unexpectedly comes to New Haven from Las Vegas.

To complicate things even further, the restaurant owner's wife hires Vinny DeLucia, a private investigator, to find her husband. Annie and Vinny have some unfinished business, but police detective Tom Behr is also in the picture.

Mysterious chickens, a black Cadillac with New York plates, and close-mouthed neighbors cause Annie to take pause and realize she's an outsider in her own back yard.

But despite cub reporter Dick Whitfield's best efforts to steal it away, Annie is determined to get her story — even if it means facing some truths about her own family and risking her life to do it.

Read the first chapter of Secondhand Smoke.

Visit Karen E. Olson's website to learn more about her and her books.

My Book, The Movie: The "Annie Seymour" mysteries.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gillian Flynn's list

Gillian Flynn, author of the acclaimed thriller Sharp Objects, contributed "The List" to The Week magazine this week.

One title on her list:

The King of Kings County by Whitney Terrell

Racism, real estate, segregation and the Mafia in Kansas City, in a big, brainy book spanning half a century. Yet Terrell manages to make this equally a coming-of-age story, with writing nimble enough to make John Irving proud.

Read more about Flynn's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: "I Heart My In-Laws"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Dina Koutas Poch's I Heart My In-Laws: Falling in Love With His Family -- One Passive-Aggressive, Over-Indulgent, Grandkid-Craving, Streisand-Loving, Bible-Thumping In-Law at a Time.

About the book, from the author's website:

A practical, laugh-out-loud guide to adopting your man’s family -- from your first date to your firstborn

Girlfriends, fiancées, and wives rejoice! Here, at last, is a book you can turn to in times of stress, panic, and family vacations to the smallest cottage ever built on the island of Nantucket. Mirroring the natural progression of a relationship and incorporating interviews from women just like you, this hilarious, savvy guide will help you survive your first meeting with future in-laws, from the holidays, weddings, and new babies, to the day they retire to the house next door because “it’s a great real estate investment.”

Discover a wide array of sanity-retention techniques and tips on scoring major points with each and every in-law. Learn how to sweet-talk his sister, mollify his mother, and defuse potentially explosive situations -- like when your pumpkin pie gives Nana a bad case of hives. Stories range from the tragic “my father-in-law just pinched my ass and not in that sportsmanship kind of way,” to the triumphant “I’m now CEO of my grandfather-in-law’s cement company -- Thanks Pupup!”

Offering handy translation charts with curse words in Persian and compliments in Cantonese, a list of gifts and how to interpret their hidden meaning, tips for reclaiming the holidays one Bastille Day at a time, and your very own set of Mother-in-Law MadLibs, I Heart My In-laws embodies the old saying, “It’s funny because it’s true.”

Among the praise for the book:

"In writer/filmmaker Poch's hilarious guidebook geared toward girlfriends, fiancées, and wives, she offers helpful advice on all aspects of coping with in-laws -- the first meeting, the holidays, the weddings, the arrival of babies (or not), and the day they decide to move next door. Poch, whose own in-laws live in another state, bases much of her information on interviews with women who have succeeded in reclaiming holidays, avoiding clashes with nasty sisters-in-law, and confronting the passive-aggressive mothers-in-law. She includes translation charts for understanding curses and compliments in a partner's family's native tongue, and she throws in games like 'Mother-In-Law MadLibs' just for fun. Every woman who has ever dealt with a partner's family will appreciate the humor and empathy in this book."
--Library Journal

"She doesn't miss a thing, taking on the endless eccentricities of family members, nightmarish holidays and vacations, wedding planning ... and the birth of grandchildren ... Skip the champagne flutes and buy this for your soon-to-be-wed friends instead."
--The Star Tribune

"I truly enjoyed reading this book. I found myself giggling aloud and constantly reading snippets to my husband. Poch has a wonderful sense of humor, and she describes situations in a way that makes you feel the embarrassment, nerves and frustration."
--Literary Illusions

Dina K. Poch has a BA from Brown University and an MFA from Columbia University. She is a writer and filmmaker living in New York City with her husband and two cats. Her in-laws live in Connecticut.

Read selected excerpts from I Heart My In-Laws and learn more about the book at the official website and the author's blog.

The Page 69 Test: I Heart My In-Laws.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Brian Foss's "War Paint"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Brian Foss's War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain, 1939-1945.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this groundbreaking examination of British war art during the Second World War, Brian Foss delves deeply into what art meant to Britain and its people at a time when the nation’s very survival was under threat. Foss probes the impact of war art on the relations between art, state patronage, and public interest in art, and he considers how this period of duress affected the trajectory of British Modernism. Supported by some two hundred illustrations and extensive archival research, the book offers the richest, most nuanced view of mid-century art and artists in Britain yet written.

The author focuses closely on Sir Kenneth Clark’s influential War Artists’ Advisory Committee and explores topics ranging from censorship to artists’ finances, from the depiction of women as war workers to the contributions of war art to evolving notions of national identity and Britishness. Lively and insightful, the book adds new dimensions to the study of British art and cultural history.

Read more about War Paint at the Yale University Press website.

Brian Foss is Professor, Art History Department, Concordia University, Montreal. He holds an M.A. in Canadian Art History from Concordia University and a Ph.D. from the University of London (1991), where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. The recipient of the 2003 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Faculty of Fine Arts, he specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art, twentieth-century British art, war and art, and issues of nationhood and identity in visual culture. He is also the author of numerous catalogues and essays, and has curated exhibitions on the art of Mary Hiester Reid (1854-1921) and Robert Harris (1849-1919), as well as on images of the modern city (1998), work by emerging artists (1993), art collecting by the Université de Montréal (1993), military views from Lower Canada (1992), and the visual representation of rural Quebec over two centuries (1991). He has co-curated a retrospective exhibition of the work of Edwin Holgate (1892-1977) for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2005). He is currently is co-editing a history of twentieth-century Canadian art, and is conducting a three-year research project on the ideological underpinnings of Canadian and American nineteenth-century landscape painting. He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Canadian Art History, and an editor of RACAR: Revue d’art canadien / Canadian Art Review.

The Page 99 Test: War Paint.

--Marshal Zeringue

Writers Read: Thomas C. Schelling

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Thomas C. Schelling, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Schelling's entry recommends two authors whose writing he finds praiseworthy. Read on.

Schelling is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for enhancing the "understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis."

Read or view his Nobel Prize lecture, and read his autobiography from The Nobel Prizes 2005, editor, Karl Grandin.

Influential books: Thomas C. Schelling.

Writers Read: Thomas C. Schelling.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Cornelia Read's "A Field of Darkness"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Cornelia Read's A Field of Darkness.

About the book, from the author's website:

Closet debutante and fledgling journalist Madeline Dare would be the first to tell you her money's so old there's none left. The summer of 1988 finds her in brokedown upstate New York and desperate to achieve escape velocity. When a set of dog tags turns up at the scene of a decades-unsolved double murder, she may have found that longed-for ticket out of town.

Downside: the name on the tags is that of her favorite Oyster Bay cousin, scion of a vindictive and still-powerful branch of the family. Maddie's investigation triggers a string of grisly new murders, and the trail of blue blood leads right to her door.

Among the praise for A Field of Darkness:

"Read's sensational debut features spot-on descriptions of upstate-downstate conflicts, strong characterizations and a fascinating plot."
—Kirkus (starred review)

"Every page is a pleasure in this mystery debut featuring barb-wielding, ex-debutante Madeline Dare... Read's plot crackles and pops, but her characters steal the show. Among them: a shifty-eyed silhouettist, a lustful livestock auctioneer, and in-laws who make the cast of Deliverance seem urbane. Madeline's own parents are irrepressible, too. "Mealtime conversation," writes Read, "was like watching Fellini and Wodehouse drop acid." This is sure to be loved by fans of comic mysteries, but don't be surprised if Tom Wolfe readers are equally smitten by Read's venomously witty portrait of a fallen WASP."
—Booklist (starred review)

"Cornelia Read is a dazzling new voice who clearly has a very old soul. A Field of Darkness is written with such assurance and style that it's hard to believe it's her publishing debut. Intense, creepy and wonderfully erudite."
—Laura Lippman, author of To the Power of Three

"Completely captivating — wry, knowing, hip, intelligent, exciting. A brand new voice that's entirely convincing straight out of the gate. One of the best debuts I've ever seen."
—Lee Child, NY Times bestselling author of One Shot

"You're going to hear a lot about Cornelia Read because she's the real thing. One does not often see such expert wordsmithing in a debut novel, but Read handles prose like a seasoned veteran. It's hard to believe this is her first novel but very easy to believe it won't be her last."
—Victor Gischler, author of Gun Monkeys and Suicide Squeeze

"Cornelia Read's debut mystery is as addictive as funnel cakes and skeeball, with all the twists, turns, and terrors of the Funhouse. Tough-talking yet vulnerable heroine Madeline Dare uncovers a 20-year-old murder at the New York State Fair with bravado and sensitivity. Evocative, gripping, and impossible toput down, A Field of Darkness isn't just a winner — it's a 'Grand Champion.'"
—Martha O'Connor, author of The Bitch Posse

"Cornelia Read's debut is a marvel. She has a keen eye for detail; her observations are so sharp they draw blood. This is a terrific book."
—Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

A Field of Darkness earned nominations for the Edgar, RT Book Club Critics Choice, Gumshoe, Audie, Macavity, and Barry awards for best debut novel.

Read Chapter One of A Field of Darkness at Cornelia Read's website.

The Page 99 Test: A Field of Darkness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Ray's "The Rosetta Stone"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: John Ray's The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Rosetta Stone is one of the world's great wonders, attracting awed pilgrims by the tens of thousands each year. This book tells the Stone's story, from its discovery by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt to its current -- and controversial -- status as the single most visited object on display in the British Museum.

A pharaoh's forgotten decree, cut in granite in three scripts -- Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek -- the Rosetta Stone promised to unlock the door to the language of ancient Egypt and its 3,000 years of civilization, if only it could be deciphered. Capturing the drama of the race to decode this key to the ancient past, John Ray traces the paths pursued by the British polymath Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion, the "father of Egyptology" ultimately credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. He shows how Champollion "broke the code" and explains more generally how such deciphering is done, as well as its critical role in the history of Egyptology. Concluding with a chapter on the political and cultural controversy surrounding the Stone, the book also includes an appendix with a full translation of the Stone's text.

Rich in anecdote and curious lore, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt is a brilliant and frequently amusing guide to one of history's great mysteries and marvels.

Among the praise for the book:

"The stone is an icon because it provided the key to decoding ancient Egyptian writing, allowing the pharaohs to speak to the modern world. It also stands for great intellectual achievement: the genius of Thomas Young, the English physicist and polymath who was the first to try and decipher it, and that of his rival, the French scholar Jean-Fran�ois Champollion, who cracked the hieroglyphs in 1822 and founded Egyptology as a science. The stone also stands for national rivalry: between Napoleon's army, which discovered it in Egypt in 1799, and the British army, which took it to the UK. Though few people know what it actually says, the Rosetta Stone has come to symbolise the enduring power of writing. Ray writes knowledgeably about all these aspects of the stone, drawing on four decades of engagement with ancient Egypt--a career partly inspired by a schoolboy encounter with the stone in the 1950s. There are already some good books on the subject ... but Ray sheds new light on topics such as the fragile political position of the stone's hero, teenage pharaoh Ptolemy V, and the issue of whether the stone should one day be returned to Egypt."
--Andrew Robinson, New Scientist

"The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt [Ray] successfully captures the West's fascination with Egypt. Always the master of his subject, he entertains rather than lectures, is sparing with minutiae but still finds space for telling detail."
--Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times

"A wonderful introduction not only to the Rosetta Stone and its story, but also to the growth and development of modern Egyptology.... Ray also offers an illuminating overview of dead language studies and the colorful figures who devote their lives to it.... This informative text has an appealing, conversational tone that non-specialists should find especially welcoming."
--Publishers Weekly

"Ray balances his acumen with accessibility in presenting the stele's history, which takes several forms. From a historical perspective, the text, a 196 BCE agreement between the Ptolemaic pharaoh and the Egyptian priesthood, opens a window on a culture and polity in distress. Another history is intellectual, that of the Rosetta Stone's spectacular role in the decipherment of hieroglyphics.... Ruminating on whether it, or antiquities generally, should be repatriated, Ray underscores that its history continues. Concise and informative.
--Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

Read an excerpt and learn more about the book at the Harvard University Press website.

John Ray is Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University and is also a Fellow of Selwyn College.

The Page 99 Test: The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Most important books: Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven. He recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And he addressed two other book-related issues:

A Certified Important book you still haven't read:

Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. I bet fewer than 5 percent of the people who claim to have read this actually have.

A classic that, upon rereading, disappointed:

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. After I learned of his boast that he wrote all the dialogue from memory, much of it struck me as having been invented.

Read about Krakauer's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lin Anderson's "Dark Flight"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Lin Anderson's Dark Flight.

About the book, from the author's website:

"... the face that stared at him through the glass was his mum's, but it didn't look like her. Stephen's mouth dropped open and real fear grabbed his stomach. His mum's face was chalk white, her mouth twisted in pain. Behind her was a dark shadow. Stephen dropped the bones."

A six year-old boy has vanished, his mother and grandmother horrifically murdered. At the scene, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod finds a chilling African talisman, made from the bones of a child. Can she decipher its meaning and track Stephen down before he becomes the next link in the killers' chain?

Among the praise for Dark Flight:

"The house was a bloodbath - the younger woman mutilated, the older woman dead at the hands of a killer she probably didn't even see. In the blood was a footprint belonging to the crime's only potential witness - a six-year-old boy who had vanished, leaving behind a macabre clue - bones tied in the shape of a diagonal cross. It's a gut-wrenching kill that takes forensic scientist Dr. Rhona McLeod from the cold streets of Glasgow to the searing heat of Nigeria, in search of the demons that demand the ultimate sacrifice. Forget Las Vegas, forget Miami, this is CSI Dowanhill and it'll keep your adrenalin pumping from the first terrifying page until the last."
--Daily Record

"The gritty realism with which Anderson evokes her settings is one of the best things about this novel."
--Times

"[a] sexy new rival for old Rebus..."
--The Scotsman

"Lin Anderson is one of Scotland’s national treasures -­ don’t be fooled by comparisons, her writing is unique, bringing warmth and depth to even the seediest parts of Glasgow. Lin’s Rhona MacLeod is a complex and compelling heroine who just gets better with every outing."
--Stuart MacBride, author of Cold Granite and Dying Light

Lin Anderson is an author and screenwriter. Learn more about Dark Flight and the Rhona MacLeod series at her website.

The Page 69 Test: Dark Flight.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Alan Weisman reading?

Currently featured at Writers Read: Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) and many other books and articles.

Weisman mentions several interesting titles including "a lovely and surprising novel, The World to Come, by Dara Horn" (which Horn applied the "Page 99 Test" to earlier this year). Read on -- there's much more of interest in Weisman's entry.

About The World Without Us, from the official website:

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.

In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; what of our everyday stuff may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically-treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dalai Lama, and paleontologists – who describe a pre-human world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths – Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that doesn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly-readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.

Read an excerpt from The World Without Us.

Among the praise for the book:

[No] “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it story…is more audacious or interesting than Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us.”
—Boston Globe

"I don't think I've read a better non-fiction book this year.”
—Lev Grossman, TIME Book Critic

"This is one of the grandest thought experiments of our time, a tremendous feat of imaginative reporting!"
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future

“The imaginative power of The World Without Us is compulsive and nearly hypnotic--make sure you have time to be kidnapped into Alan Weisman’s alternative world before you sit down with the book, because you won’t soon return. This is a text that has a chance to change people, and so make a real difference for the planet.”
—Charles Wohlforth, author of L.A. Times Book Prize-winning The Whale and the Supercomputer

Alan Weisman's writing has appeared in Harper's, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Audubon, Mother Jones, Discover, Condé Nast Traveler, Resurgence, and in several anthologies (including The Best American Science Writing 2006). The World Without Us is his fifth book.

Read more about The World Without Us and learn more about Alan Weisman and his work.

Writers Read: Alan Weisman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Kun's "The Locklear Letters," the movie

The current feature at My Book, The Movie: Michael Kun's The Locklear Letters.

Here's the gist of the story, from the author:

The Locklear Letters, in a nutshell, is the story of a computer salesman named Sid Straw, who lives in Baltimore. Sid sends a letter to his college classmate, Heather Locklear, the star of Melrose Place, Spin City and a number of other television series, requesting an autographed photo for his brother. Unfortunately, Sid's request leads to more and more letters that have a terrible effect upon his job, his relationships and his mental health.

The book has been optioned, so it may yet become a movie. Read on for the author's thoughts about the actors who might portray his characters.

Michael Kun is the author of A Thousand Benjamins, The Locklear Letters, My Wife and My Dead Wife, You Poor Monster, and Corrections to My Memoirs. His short stories have appeared in Other Voices, Fiction, Indy Men's Magazine, Story Quarterly, and Cottonwood, among other publications.

Earlier this year he applied the Page 69 Test to Corrections to My Memoirs.

Visit Michael Kun's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Locklear Letters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10: Asian crime fiction

"If you only looked at size of population, you'd expect China and India to dominate any list like this, but in fact it is Japan which has taken crime fiction to its bosom," writes novelist Catherine Sampson in the preface to her top ten list of Asian crime fiction for the Guardian. "In China, politics adds a thick layer of complication. To write about crime in China - however fictional - is to advertise the fact that Chinese society is not an entirely harmonious and benign thing. Of course, China's leaders are a lot more tolerant than they once were when it comes to literature, but it's still sensitive, and crime fiction is a small but growing genre. The Beijing that I see around me, with its speed-of-light economic growth, its social dislocation, its constantly migrating population and its quagmire of corruption, is a verdant pasture for crime fiction. And its political claustrophobia is the perfect environment for a private eye who is an honourable man struggling against a system that threatens to overwhelm him."

I've only read one of the titles on Sampson's list, I'm glad to say (because it means I've got all the others to look forward to):

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

When I visited Saigon several years ago, this book was photocopied and sold on stalls throughout the city. A mystery and so much more - this is a classic tale of a romantic triangle, violent politics and murder. Many of the books on this list have been written by Asians who have left Asia, at least for a while. Several of the books by non-Asian's, like this one and HRF Keating's take an expatriate community as their focus. As a writer who is not Asian but dares to write about Asia, I think it can be done. But there are few non-Asian writers who manage to make Asia, and one searing point in history, so utterly alive as Graham Greene.

Read about Number One on Sampson's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sophie Gee's "The Scandal of the Season"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Sophie Gee's The Scandal of the Season.

About the book, from the author's website:

The Scandal of the Season is the story of the real-life seduction of the beautiful, clever Arabella Fermor by the charming, enigmatic nobleman Robert Petre, seventh Baron of Ingatestone. A true story, covered up in its day because it threatened to cause a sensation. It was the tale that gave rise to Alexander Pope’s bestselling poem “The Rape of the Lock,” the era’s most celebrated entertainment.

The novel plays out against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London: teeming street-life; glorious buildings, newly restored after the Great Fire; the River Thames, the artery of England’s trade and commerce; splendid parks and gardens; magnificent townhouses; and Hampton Court itself — Queen Anne’s palace.

The novel is an erotic, witty drama about the City and the Court in early eighteenth-century England — a time of Jacobite plots and Popish fears that threatened to erupt in political violence. A time when marriage was a market and sex was a temptation fraught with dangers. A sexy modern love-story — set in 1711.

Among the praise for The Scandal of the Season:

“A seduction reminiscent of Dangerous Liaisons, with the crackling historical mystery of An Instance of the Fingerpost. The Scandal of the Season captures the breezy poetic romance of Shakespeare in Love, recast to star Alexander Pope."
—Ian Caldwell, coauthor of The Rule of Four

“Sophie Gee's dazzling, sophisticated novel is a clever re-imagining of Alexander Pope's famous poem and a wildly entertaining tale in its own right. The romance and adventure of The Scandal of the Season will seduce readers from the first page.”
—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana

"With passion and flair, The Scandal of the Season animates an intriguing period of literary history, fleshed out in fluid, intricate and seductive writing. Every reader will enjoy the wit and subtlety in the novel's dangerous and delicate balance of eighteenth century customs and transgressions. What a first impression! Sophie Gee's debut novel signals her unique expertise and a great career ahead."
—Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow

"With The Scandal of the Season, Sophie Gee gives us that rarest of pleasures: a tale at once intelligent and frothy, richly edifying and compulsively readable. Combining her eye for details with her flair for narrative suspense, Gee recreates the glamour, intrigue and treachery of Alexander Pope's London: a captivating world that I was sad to leave when I reached the book's final page."
—Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

“Gee’s lively, highly literate debut explores the historical figures and events
satirized in Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock.” Delightfully gossipy, psychologically insightful and historically fascinating.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Gee's shrewd debut, an erudite period piece filled with outrageous flirtation, social maneuvering and contests of wit … is sprinkled with literary cameos and jokes English lit majors will appreciate, while crackling verbal one-upmanship and crude double entendres should keep the hoi polloi turning pages. Gee's take on the Paris Hilton–like figures who pranced through London 300 years ago manages to be simultaneously tabloid bawdy and academy proper.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Drawn with an arch tone and acute observational gifts worthy of the best traditions of social satire, the book is a deeply entertaining and illuminating read.”
—Sydney Morning Herald

Read an excerpt from The Scandal of the Season and learn more about the novel at Sophie Gee's website.

Sophie Gee is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Princeton.

The Page 99 Test: The Scandal of the Season.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Brett Battles' "The Cleaner"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Brett Battles' The Cleaner.

About the book, from the author's website:

Jonathan Quinn is a professional cleaner. His job? Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary. But in Brett Battles' electrifying debut novel, Quinn's latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal, and revenge.

The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn't belong — and Quinn's handlers at "the Office" turn strangely silent — he knows he's in over his head.

With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead ... and if it's linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.

His only hope may be Orlando, a woman from his past who's reluctant to help but who may hold the key to solving the case. Suddenly the two are prying into old crimes, crisscrossing continents, struggling to stay alive long enough to unbury the truth. But as the hunt intensifies, Quinn is stunned by what he uncovers: a chilling secret ... and a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy — with an almost unimaginable goal.

Furiously paced, filled with superbly drawn characters and pitch-perfect dialogue, The Cleaner puts a powerful twist on all our expectations as it confirms Brett Battles' place as one of the most exciting new talents in suspense fiction today.

Among the early praise for The Cleaner:

"This book is a pure delight. Protagonist Jonathan Quinn is a unique and welcome addition to the world of crime fiction. Author Battles' The Cleaner is a brilliant and heart-pounding thriller; I'm on the edge of my seat, awaiting future installment of Quinn's adventures."
—Jeffery Deaver

"Brett Battles makes a grand entrance into the thriller scene with this unputdownable spy novel The Cleaner has it all: exotic locales, James Bondian derring-do, and ingenious plot twists that will keep you sweating all the way till the end."
—Tess Gerritsen

"It's always great to discover a new writer who can turn a genre on its ear. Brett Battles's The Cleaner proves the case. Part Raymond Chandler, part Clive Cussler, part Robert Ludlum, here is an international thriller chocked full of action, taut with suspense, and laced with a fair amount of humor and romance. An exciting debut by a major new talent... I look forward to seeing what comes next!"
—James Rollins

"Brett Battles is a compelling new voice in the thriller genre. The Cleaner combines the best elements of Lee Child, John LeCarre and Robert Ludlum. Deftly plotted, perfectly paced and expertly executed, Battles takes his readers on a joyride from the U.S. to Vietnam to post-Cold War Berlin. Jonathan Quinn is a character worth rooting for. Brett Battles is a master story teller. Find a comfortable chair and plan to stay up late. You won't be able to put it down. A stellar debut. Highly-recommended."
—Sheldon Siegel

"Hypnotically gripping, The Cleaner by Brett Battles moves with the speed of an assassin's unerring bullet. From Colorado to Vietnam and Germany, this ripping-good read will leave anyone who loves suspense not only happily satisfied but eager for Battles' next thriller."
—Gayle Lynds

"Brett Battles is a master thriller writer. Jonathan Quinn is simply the most compelling protagonist to debut in a decade. No thriller fan can afford to miss this rip-roaring experience."
—John Ramsey Miller

"The Cleaner has it all: fast action, terrific characters, and exotic locations all combined in a roller-coaster plot that's guaranteed to keep you reading till the last page. Brett Battles might be a newcomer, but he writes like an old hand. This is one terrific book!"
—John Gilstrap

"An emotionally tense tale of espionage and betrayal from a new author who writes with assurance and sophistication, The Cleaner's teeth-gritting action is an auspicious debut for the talented Brett Battles."
—Perri O'Shaughnessy

Read an excerpt from The Cleaner and more about the novel at the author's website and at Killer Year.

The Page 69 Test: The Cleaner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Juan Cole's "Napoleon's Egypt"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this vivid and timely history, Juan Cole tells the story of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Revealing the young general's reasons for leading the expedition against Egypt in 1798 and showcasing his fascinating views of the Orient, Cole delves into the psychology of the military titan and his entourage. He paints a multi-faceted portrait of the daily travails of the soldiers in Napoleon's army, including how they imagined Egypt, how their expectations differed from what they found, and how they grappled with military challenges in a foreign land. Cole ultimately reveals how Napoleon's invasion, the first modern attempt to invade the Arab world, invented and crystallized the rhetoric of liberal imperialism.

Among the early praise for Napoleon's Egypt:

"A timely and entertaining look at a previous Middle Eastern misadventure by one of America's most provocative and informed scholars."
--Lawrence Wright, author of the Pulitzer Award-winning The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

"We are told that at the time of their invasion of Iraq the top leaders of the U.S. did not know anything about the division within Islam between Sunni and Shia -- or, for that matter, the history of Iraq, Iran, Egypt, or the other key countries of the Middle East. If any American is interested in catching up, the place to begin is with Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt: The Invention of the Middle East, a masterful and beautifully written account of Western imperialism's first assault on the Islamic world. It includes indispensable details on the West's contempt for Islamic peoples -- so-called Orientalism -- and the untold misery it has caused."
--Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic

"When Napoleon invaded Egypt, many outsiders believed the Middle East was a region they could easily conquer and rule. Some still believe it. Cole's book reminds us that today's leaders are not the first to find the Islamic world far more complex than they imagined. It not only offers delicious stories about the private lives of invaders, but also teaches urgent lessons for the modern age."
--Stephen Kinzer, bestselling author of Overthrow and All the Shah's Men

"This is a detailed account of Napoleon's brief attempt to invade and occupy Egypt. With great skill the author depicts the horrors and massacres consequent to an invasion and the evil it causes both occupier and occupied. Imperial attempts have seldom been as disastrous a fiasco as this one was and Napoleon tried to down play the brutality and cupidity of the invasion and ordered the State Papers dealing with it burnt. However thanks to the diaries and letters of the invaders we have detailed accounts of how a so-called civilized people can inflict untold horrors on an alien race in the name of imperialism, which in other words, was for greed and contempt for 'the other' masked in the guise of teaching them 'liberty', a concept which today we translate as 'democracy'."
--Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, Professor Emerita of Near Eastern History, UCLA, and award-winning author of Egypt in the Reign of Muhammed Ali

"This is a remarkable book, which provides a gripping account of the first modern encounter between a western army and a Middle Eastern country, and should provide cautionary reading for those who still think that superior Western power will inevitably prevail over the resistance of a population determined not to be subjugated by outsiders."
--Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor at Columbia and author of The Iron Cage and Resurrecting Empire

Juan Cole is Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. He also runs the popular blog Informed Comment.

Read more about Napoleon's Egypt at the publisher's website and at the Napoleon's Egypt blog.

The Page 99 Test: Napoleon's Egypt.

--Marshal Zeringue