A forum for the discussion of books and other things
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Atlantic!
The story of the Atlantic Ocean ... to be discussed at Emma's place on Thursday 1 March from 7.45pm ... hope to see you there, email Emma or call her on 0411 708 073 if you need the address.
First of all, I have not finished the book - I am about 1/6th of the way through.
I loved the start of the book, with the author crossing the Atlantic aboard a ship. But then he just started going around in circles (still in the "Preface"), and not getting to the point. I wish Elizabeth Gilbert had written this for him.
I loved bits of the "Prologue" where I could really sit back and imagine the cold and grey North Atlantic. But then I got stuck on not knowing enough about Earth's timeline - in terms of epochs, and evolution. I found that the author gave just enough to keep you gripping to the rest of the story (like a shipwreck might grip onto a couple of planks of wood), but not enough to feel really comfortable in it.
This sent me off to the internet, researching the various epochs, what followed what, and how man evolved, where and how he inhabited the different continents. This was, I must admit, a very fascinating journey, during which, I made some amazing discoveries. However, it did make for very slow reading, as my research sent me off on tangents of personal interest, unrelated to the book.
It was also fascinating to find out that the oceans may, at one point, have been very acidic and toxic. I had never considered this. I always thought that water was water, from the beginning of time, till now. This certainly got me thinking about other planets, and how we keep investigating whether they could support life or not. Obviously, some may be able to support life in a few hundred million years.
So overall, a very thought provoking book. One that is definitely more enjoyable if you can do the research along the way. I think it's pretty well written, but it's not well put together. It seems to jump around too much. It would be much better if the author decided what his beginning is, and just weaved the story from there.
March: Midwives (Chris Bohjalian)
April: Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
May: The Chrysalids (John Wyndham)
June: Born To Run (Christopher McDougall)
July: Post Mortem (Patricia Cornwall)
August: Breath (Tim Winton)
Sept: From Berlin to Biere (Joseph Spring)
October: 'In Defence of Food: An Eater's Manifesto' (Michael Pollan)
November:
December: Murder at Longbourn: A Mystery (Tracy Kiely)
Reading list for 2009
March: Into the wild by Jon Krakauer
April: Nine parts of desire by Geraldine Brooks
May: Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card
June: Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
July: Kazan by James Curwood
August: Kids books by various authors
September: Possession by A.S. Byatt
October: The power of five: Necropolis (book 4) by Anthony Horowitz
November: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
December: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Reading list for 2008
March: Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
April: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
May: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
June: Buffy: The Long Way Home; Angel: After the Fall (Graphic Novels)
1 comment:
First of all, I have not finished the book - I am about 1/6th of the way through.
I loved the start of the book, with the author crossing the Atlantic aboard a ship. But then he just started going around in circles (still in the "Preface"), and not getting to the point. I wish Elizabeth Gilbert had written this for him.
I loved bits of the "Prologue" where I could really sit back and imagine the cold and grey North Atlantic. But then I got stuck on not knowing enough about Earth's timeline - in terms of epochs, and evolution. I found that the author gave just enough to keep you gripping to the rest of the story (like a shipwreck might grip onto a couple of planks of wood), but not enough to feel really comfortable in it.
This sent me off to the internet, researching the various epochs, what followed what, and how man evolved, where and how he inhabited the different continents. This was, I must admit, a very fascinating journey, during which, I made some amazing discoveries. However, it did make for very slow reading, as my research sent me off on tangents of personal interest, unrelated to the book.
It was also fascinating to find out that the oceans may, at one point, have been very acidic and toxic. I had never considered this. I always thought that water was water, from the beginning of time, till now. This certainly got me thinking about other planets, and how we keep investigating whether they could support life or not. Obviously, some may be able to support life in a few hundred million years.
So overall, a very thought provoking book. One that is definitely more enjoyable if you can do the research along the way. I think it's pretty well written, but it's not well put together. It seems to jump around too much. It would be much better if the author decided what his beginning is, and just weaved the story from there.
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