Puttering in the Study

On the Double Build Road Again ...

This time it's a 1944 and 1969 USS Hornet (CV/CVS-12).  The former is pretty much an out of the box Dragon Essex (CV-9), which approximates Hornet's wartime appearance better than their Hornet does, actually. 

The latter is a heavily kitbashed Trumpeter Ticonderoga (CV-14).  At this point we've got the major hull and stern alterations done and new flight deck installed, and about half the gallery deck.  It's looking much more serious with the brand-new Model Monkey island.

I can already tell I messed up by adding the waterline plate - it doubles the problem of a kit that already had the ship a good six scale feet too far out of the water.  But it might be able to sand it down - and a thick boot topping stripe never killed anybody.  It also has me thinking about a water based - for a waterline model.  That might be fun ...

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible And Why / Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them) - Bart Ehrman

One of my favorite Teaching Company videos is Dr. Bart Ehrman’s on the New Testament, where he goes into what I now understand is the historical–critical analysis of the books of the New Testament. The lectures provide a fascinating insight into the books, along with background into when they were created, what they mean, and how they were changed throughout history.

These two books cover the same ground. The first focuses on what we know of the history of changes and alterations to the texts going back to our earliest copies, which are still removed by hundreds of years from the very first versions. The second focuses more on the differences between the texts, with Ehrman insisting that we consider what each author has to say standing alone, and recognizing that they might well be contradicting each other, and why that might be the case.

The claim that every word of the Bible is correct as it sits today is not one that I was brought up with, but Ehrman presents the case – which is well recognized in most Christian seminary and theological institutions today – that that claim simply is not sustainable, and that whether approaching the texts from an analytical or a devotional perspective, a reader benefits from understanding how the texts started and how they were changed – sometimes unintentionally and sometimes quite deliberately throughout history.

I thoroughly enjoy and think I benefit from understanding the different viewpoints of the different authors, and why they might disagree on certain points. It is also helpful to know that many of the beliefs that I hold were not in fact part of Jesus’ teachings during his lifetime, and instead reflect decisions in the early years of the church regarding doctrines that Jesus did not express opinions on. Or - and this is one of Ehrman’s points - we don’t know whether he did or not since we have no way of knowing everything that he taught, and in many cases whether what we are told he said is correct.

Now there are ways of sussing out what’s more likely true than not true that are very helpful - for example no new religion in its right mind would make up a boast that its leader who was executed as a common criminal. Or have a leader be baptized by an inferior, or grow up in a one-horse town like Nazareth. But this is what makes these things likely to have actually occurred. On the other hand, additions or changes to writings are less likely to be correct in general. So much of the books deal with these sorts of questions - what can we say about what Jesus actually said and did given the contradictions and changes.

But these are my favorite kinds of books. I learned a lot, and gained a better understanding of an area I want to know more about.

Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow

What is there left to say about this book? Not only did it fill an important gap in the popular biography of an important Founding Father – it inspired a groundbreaking Broadway musical that will inspire generations to come with the story of an extraordinary individual and the founding of our nation.
There was the odd sensation seeing the origin of song lyrics from the musical throughout. “Not Throwing Away My Shot” seems to actually have been inspired by the clear historical record that Hamilton told people he “was” in fact “throwing away his shot” in the duel with Burr. Burr actually did say that “the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me.” There was the heartbreak in the final portrait of a middle-aged Hamilton after his son Philip was killed in a duel.  I never knew he had made it to middle age, candidly, or that the light in his eyes had seemed to have gone out.
But there was substance I had not seen as well. No one comes out terribly well here, and the worst decisions were Hamilton’s, from the ill-advised publication of the Reynolds and Adams pamphlets to the panicked calls for the New York Legislature to find a way to set aside statewide electoral results in 1800, since they would in effect guarantee the Federalists’ loss to Jefferson’s emerging Democratic-Republicans later in the year. And ending, of course, in his failure to find a way to avoid the duel that would leave his family in poverty.
A terrific book, all in all. And it’s remarkable how well the musical tells the same story.

The Cartographers: A Novel - Peng Shepherd

The idea of a novel built around the hidden secrets contained in maps was catnip to me when I first read about this book. It’s a variation on the Dan Brown – style archaeological porn that I used to love to read, but weaves in enough urban fantasy to give it interest from that angle as well.
The story is an interesting one, but I quickly got the many similar characters mixed up, which kept me from getting as engaged in the story as I should have. The writing was also distracting, since most of the book is told in the form of narratives of events long past, but which contained such detail that they simply weren’t plausible as the “here’s what we did with your parents in college 25 years ago”. The work presented as flashbacks, but as real-time exposition, and the distinction kept being a distraction to me.
One other thing that I felt was a distraction was that a plot device was used twice. The story is that of a group of college friends, and it was I thought a very effective plot device when one of the current characters turned out to have been within that group, which the protagonist didn’t know. Then a few chapters later, another major character is revealed as having been one as well, which no one knew. It was clever the first time. It was just too convenient the second time.
Anyway, it’s a good story, and I enjoyed the book, but I think it enjoyed narrative a bit too much, at the expense of plausibility. I think the underlying story could have been told a bit more realistically.

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power - Jon Meacham

I am pretty sure this book has been on my Kindle for over ten years. It is an exhaustive biography of Jefferson, but focused on his career as a political leader. That is not to me the most interesting aspect of the man, and doesn’t fully explore all the things that made him both a genius and a highly controversial figure. But it did provide a mountain of interesting detail about his activities and conduct - even if it didn’t fully reflect his multiple interests in real time. You have to know more about him to know that he perennially had numerous ongoing projects which reflected his wide range of interests, and that is an aspect of his life I am always interested in.
But one thing Meacham does convey is a better understanding of Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings and his children by her. He nails Jefferson’s notations in his daily accounts as to his location and the birth of all of the children of slaves on his estate to confirm that only he - and not some other male member of his family - fathered all of her chilfren. The book also gets across how Jefferson lived on a daily basis with slaves who were not just 7/8th white and his children, but who had three of the same four grandparents as his two daughters - since Sally and Jefferson’s deceased wife were half-sisters. It’s hard to understand what that life was like - Meacham makes that a little easier to understand.

Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel - Anthony Doerr

This novel beggars description. Throughout, it is multiple stories ranging from medieval Eastern Europe and Constantinople to the Korean War, the 1970s, the near future, and the farther future. At the end, the author ties them together into a coherent story, but the process of getting there is exhausting because of the suffering contained in each of the component stories. So while it is a terrific piece of writing, it isn’t an easy or a pleasant read.

Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones

This is my first Dan Jones book, and I really enjoyed it. It is a very readable account of the thousand years of history between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the discovery of the New World. He frequently ties aspects of the Middle Ages both backwards into the Roman empire that preceded it, and forward into the present day, showing how medieval developments continue to play an important role in our modern world.

One brief example – he notes the enormous significance of both the development of the printing press and of the Protestant Reformation, but ties the two together in an unexpected way. In fact, it was the development of movable type and the printing press that made possible the sheer scale of the sale of indulgences which in turn led to the Reformation. I had never heard that before. But the book is full of interesting observations like this.

Quantum of Nightmares (Laundry Files, 11) – Charles Stross

Unlike the 10th installment of the Laundry Files, it only took me a couple of weeks to finish this one.  While it used much of the same cast as its Peter Pan–inspired predecessor, and added a Mary Poppins-inspired character, the plot and the characters made more sense this time around.  And the macabre touches made it fit a little better into the Lovecraftian universe that this series originally inhabited a little more consistently.

Still looking forward to seeing Bob Howard come back, which we are apparently promised in the next book, which is a prequel "novella."

Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities - Bettany Hughes

I really enjoyed this book.  It was a complete history of the city from its origins to the modern day.  It says a lot about the different empires that used it as a base, as well as the states that didn't - but still affected it greatly.

Dead Lies Dreaming - Charles Stross

This is the latest installment in the "Laundry" series, but has nothing to do with that agency.  Instead, it is exploring a spinoff set of characters, using Stross' latest conceit – adding an overlay from another literary work.  In this case, it is Peter Pan, with names and characters drawn from that story.

The biggest problem I had with this book was that there are so many similar new characters who aren't distinguished from each other and who – confusingly – all have nicknames, so that you almost need a chart to keep straight who's talking to who.  Further confusing things is that everyone who is in a relationship is in a same-sex relationship, so you can't even use the gender pronouns to identify who is speaking much of the time.

Toward the end it started making a little more sense as the action picked up, and I did enjoy the ending, which resolved a number of open issues.  But it took a long time for me to plow through this once because it was simply so dull.  But I did just purchase the 11th book, and even though it is using many of the same characters, it is making more sense.  This was draws from "Mary Poppins."  No, seriously.  It's a Lovecraft/Mary Poppins mashup.