Book recommendations
Marvin Zelkowitz
Here are my 2 recommendations of books to read:
A. “Inventing the Renaissance” by Ada Palmer. Review by Google’s AI (edited for clarity)
"Inventing the Renaissance" challenges the traditional view of the Renaissance as a singular, positive "golden age". Instead, Palmer argues that the Renaissance was a complex, multifaceted period with various competing ideas and perspectives, not a unified, easily defined era. She explores how historians themselves have "invented" the Renaissance by selectively emphasizing certain aspects and downplaying others to fit their own narratives and agendas.
She emphasizes the following concepts:
- . She discusses the concept of a single "X-factor" that explains the Renaissance. Palmer suggests that the "X-factor" is not a singular cause but rather a complex interplay of various factors, including the rediscovery of classical texts, economic changes, political maneuvering, and the rise of new ideas. Each author has his (or to a limited degree her) X factor that is the casual agent.
- Palmer's book focuses on how historians have shaped the narrative of the Renaissance. Different historians, often driven by their own contexts and goals, have emphasized different aspects of the period, creating a variety of interpretations. Most historians are attracted to the era of the Renaissance because of their own biases or interests so study and write about that topic.
- It is said that history is written by the victors. She disputes that and says that history is written by the authors. (See 2 above.) For example, central Italy (Florence) had a successful government to grow in popularity that caused other historians to be attracted to Florence and a mythic history developed that attracted other historians, which subverted the historical record. For example, most male historians studied the government, politics, and wars of the period. On the other hand, female historians mostly studied the culture, fashions, and life of the population, giving very different interpretations of what happened.
- Palmer examines the lives of individuals from the Renaissance, both famous and obscure, to illustrate the diverse and often contradictory experiences of the period. Niccolò Machiavelli is presented as a central figure in understanding the Renaissance, particularly his exploration of human agency and political thought.
The book is easy to read, and Palmer has an easy to follow style. But the book is long – 750 pages. Even subtracting 100 pages of notes, it is still 650 pages.
Palmer is an historian at the University of Chicago. She has also written prize-winning science fiction. I was Con-chair of Balticon when she won the Campbell Award at Balticon about 7 years ago and spent several hours talking to her.
B. “We’ll prescribe you a cat” by Syou Ishida
I sent the name to you last week:
This book is translated from Japanese. Winner of the 2023 Kyoto Book Prize. It describes in a playful way the psychology of cats. It is 5 related but independent stories about people having troubles and a mystical clinic becomes visible to them. The clinic gives each a prescription of a cat which saves them. Each cat has different attributes which affects the patient in different ways. It sounds weird, and it is, but it makes sense. (Ignore Angie's poor review on Goodreads. The book is an excellent description of Japanese culture and was fun to read.) The book is available at Howard County Library and Libby, but has long wait times. By the time we get to read it the wait should be much shorter.
From one review:
Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the “Kokoro Clinic for the Soul” can ONLY be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. Directions to the Clinic are cryptic-you will be given the names of streets that intersect in four directions. And, prospective patients will only hear about the Clinic indirectly-like from “a former colleague who passed the name along after his younger brother’s wife’s cousin’s company’ client recommended it”-for example.
But what is MOST unusual is the medicine. If you manage to get past the beautiful but disagreeable receptionist/nurse and are allowed to see the Doctor-you will be prescribed a CAT to treat what ails you-selected especially for you. The cat will come with a leaflet describing care, and all essential supplies.
-- Marv Zelkowitz, Professor Emeritus Computer Science, University of Maryland PLEASE CHANGE MY EMAIL ADDRESS TO MVZEL...@GMAIL.COM. OTHER EMAIL ADDRESSES WILL GO AWAY SOON.
