Books of Gen X and Screens of Gen Z

Education vs Entertainment…

Giorgio: I sent a YouTube video about the generation gap.

Sebastian: YouTube? Sorry, not yet. I've been engrossed in a sailing era book, Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian.

Giorgio: Ah, books, huh? Quaint. I prefer getting my info in short, digestible chunks. Books are so... lengthy.

Sebastian: Lengthy, yes, but they provide depth and context that are missing in shorter formats.

Giorgio: But YouTube videos and blogs do the job just fine. Plus, they're more engaging and interactive.

Sebastian: Maybe engaging, but more about entertainment than education. Books offer a nuanced exploration of ideas, presenting pros and cons.

Giorgio: I guess, but who has time for all that reading? I can get the gist of things much quicker online.

Sebastian: Well, investing time in reading books can enhance your critical thinking and analytical skills.

Giorgio: But I can't shake off my reliance on screen media. It's just how I've been raised, you know? Grew up with them.

Sebastian: Understood. But might you include some reading in your routine? Even New York Times online? You might find it enriching and rewarding.
Giorgio: Alright, alright, I'll give it a shot. Can't promise I'll become a bookworm overnight.

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Voice-over

Books can still make a good birthday gift. And allow a conversation like the above to take place.  And Patrick O’Brian’s books contain far more detail than even a movie could include. Let alone TikTok or Twitter.

Books: Keep or throw?

Piles for permanence
or procrastination

Vacillating over volumes…

Audrey: It’s about time to clean the bookshelves of outdated, irrelevant books. What's your plan?

Mari: Which books we should keep and which ones we should get rid of, you mean? I was thinking if I haven’t opened a book for six months I should throw it out.

Audrey: Can you decide what's relevant? Some of those "outdated" books may have historical value. Interest to future generations.

Mari: I didn't mean it like that.

Audrey: Well, that's how it sounded. We can't just go on a rampage to make room for more popular titles.

Mari: Okay. What do you suggest?

Audrey: First pile: books of historical and sentimental value. Save. Second pile: books to donate to libraries or opportunity shops. Third pile: ephemera, yes. toss.

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Voice-over

Curating and stewardship of a private library can benefit from two three people’s opinions.

Hobbit Town Library Bequest

Hobbit Town Library

Calling home…

ET: I'm in Hobbit Town tonight.

Mothership: Mission accomplished?

ET: I handed over a hundred Green Planet books to the town library.

Mothership: They were appreciated?

ET: Great joy. A harpist played and there was dancing in the fields. Tomorrow I venture further into the local verdure.

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Voice-over

There is something easy about accessing ideas through books and paper pages rather than using an e-reader. And digital systems may not be understood at galactic destinations.

Japan on $10 a day

A dog-eared book lies on the table…

Dennis: Bit of an antique, this book.
Glen: Yes, brought it to Japan when I first came. Never had the heart to throw it out. Staying within $10 a day in Japan was possible in the early 70s. And the places to visit, well, the historical edifices may still be there but many of the ephemeral attractions have long gone.
Dennis: So it's an artifact. And the author?
Glen: John Wilcock. He died 2018. In Ojai.
Dennis: You knew him?
Glen: Met him in New York once. A Brit, transplanted. Inveterate traveler, he wrote guidebooks for Frommer. But he also cofounded Village Voice among others.

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Voice-over
Once travellers, mainly Europeans, visited Japan for the history and culture. And maybe cheap goods. They still do. Or will again when the world shakes off this Covid thing. But nowadays travellers also come seeking goods, upmarket, from Asia and the contemporary media-driven culture. Akihabara has adapted to the times.

The letter "B" in wine selection

Unwrapping a new book over a glass…
Graham: How do you choose a good wine?
Bruce: Easy. It has to include a letter B.
Graham: A bit limiting?
Bruce: B appears in a lot of wines be they grapes, areas, or brands: Burgundy, Barolo, Bordeaux or Barossa. Even Malbec, allowable even though it's in the middle.
Graham: That's mostly reds.
Bruce: Admitted. But it restricts my intake and makes selecting easier.

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Voice-over

This approach to selecting a wine, among many other wine stories, is explored in a book To Wine edited by Graham Bathgate, published December 2020.

Bequeathing an Old Book Collection

Negotiating a gift…
Heira: I have some old books. My husband valued them and wanted to bequeath them to the library.
Librarian: But we don’t have space.
Heira: This one is 250 years old.
Librarian: (sighs) Yes, I understand. The mere fact of being old might make it significant, despite it being of not great value in its lifetime. But the covers have fallen off. What does the family say?
Heira: One or two say pitch them on the tip, most of us say the collection should be archived for posterity.
Librarian: What we really need more of is funding before accepting collections.
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Voice-over

The beholder’s eyes are closed, the minds of those who come after are closing. Three principles for tidying up: Assess to select, toss to declutter, house to collect. Oh, and one more thing: find an institutional benefactor.

When Breath Becomes Air

Breaking the news at a hospital bedside…

Doctor: How do you feel?

George: Dreadful night. Didn’t think I’d make it. What is it?

Doctor: I was puzzled why we weren’t making progress. We ran some more tests. We got the latest results.

George: And?

Doctor: George. It’s cancer. In the lungs.

George: (blinks) Well, that’s a relief. We know what it is now.

Doctor: We can approach this two ways. One, stitch up the lung, buy you a little more time. Or two, give you medications and make you feel more comfortable.

George: Not keen on intervention. I’m 99. Give me some relief.

Doctor: Then let’s do that.

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Voice-over

George had Stage IV adenocarcinoma. At 99, he was not in his thirties like Paul Kalanithi, suffering from the same cancer who with his youth, vitality, knowledge, top-line attending doctors didn’t make it past 37. His memoir, “When Breath Becomes Air” was an inspiring bestseller. At 99, the chances of coming through an operation are very low, and surviving more than a year lower yet. Palliative care: make the patient comfortable.

The intelligence of fungi

Believe it or not...

Paul: Most fungi have a symbiotic relationship with their host.

Kris: Meaning a cooperative relationship?

Paul: Yes, like plants get what they want from fungi and fungi get what they want from plants. But there are aggressively parasitic fungi too. Ones that can take over a body. There's a jungle fungus that rains its spores down on ants passing below. The spores fill the ants bodies up and they become zombie fungus ants.

Kris: No, you're making this up.

Paul: I tell you, fungus in ants clothing. But most of evolution is a mix of cooperation and competition. You find find both in Nature.

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Voice-over

Merlin Sheldrake describes the intelligence of fungi. Their hyphae are like a collaborative system, a social network, a web of interconnected "thinking".

Robert Kuok: A Memoir

Book note…

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Karl: Memoirs often benefit from being written with someone else. Think John Le Carré’s collaboration with Adam Sisman.

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Zoe: Hang on. That was actually written by Adam Sisman, so it’s a biography, isn’t it?

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Karl: True. But an autobiography written with assistance, can still be a memoir.

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Zoe: I’m assuming something here. That you have been reading another memoir?

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Karl: That obvious? But yes. Robert Kuok.

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Zoe: Who?

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Karl: Malaysian billionaire. Made his money in commodity trading. Owns Shangri La hotels chain.  

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Voice-over

Co-written with Andrew Tanzer over 15 years, Robert Kuok: A Memoir, is a carefully crafted work. Told in Robert Kuok’s voice, to reveal the inner workings of him as a unique leader, and his analyses and decisions. Highly recommended for a look at building monopolies through political connections. “From eight in the morning we whipped around Kuala Lumpur at a furious pace and saw seven ministers by lunchtime.”

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Armchair Travel

A trip might be nice...

Travel in a time of virus…

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Perry: It palls after a while.

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Grendel: What?

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Perry: Being at home. Looking at the view. Watching migratory birds starting to depart on journeys. Leaving behind us flightless humans. Feet start itching so I read a travel book. Took trips to Ethiopia, Nepal, Tibet and India last week.

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Grendel: Armchair travel?

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Perry: The chair arms hold your book up, and as you read you vicariously experience the pleasure and the pain of travel.

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Grendel: Ah. Schadenfreude. Pleasure in reading about the pain of others.

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Voice-over

Evidence of accompanying Pico Iyer through his Tropical Classical. Not just about travel but meeting exceptional people like the Dalai Lama, hearing Iyer's views on what books by Indian, British, Japanese, and American writers really meant, and smiling at his deconstructions of languages, dramas, genres and punctuation.

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After writing comes the hard work

The author has finished the book…

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Publisher: Great. Now you have to go on the road.

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Writer: Why?

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Publisher: It’s part of the process. You write, we publish, you promote. There’s bookstore signings and some meetings… a women’s group in Stockholm organizing a panel on women who eat men for breakfast or some such…  Thursday, flight tomorrow, here’s your ticket. You’ll be met.

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Writer: What’s my line?

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Publisher: Talk about your next big thing, an old chap with three sons, that three arrows analogy… How’s it coming?

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Writer: Getting there. He’s becoming more obsessive about finding his identity, he’s never come to terms with his inner female, his shrink tells him to confront his sons. Drawing on American psychobabble.

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Publisher: Sounds marketable. Oh, a couple more things. We need blurbs and photos.

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Writer: Blurbs?

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Publisher: Get your writing friends to recommend the book. Big names. Celebrities.

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Writer: I’m not keen on having my photo on the book. Let the words speak for themselves.

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Publisher: Readers want to see you. They can see who is speaking to them. Someone they can relate to.

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Writer: But some readers want to imagine what the writer looks like. They want to create their own image.

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Publisher: Forget them. They’re a minority. We’re in the visual age. A good PR photo helps sales. We’ll see to it.

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Voice-over

Starting out writers may be not be aware just how much other stuff will interrupt their writing. Even if a book generates sales, royalties and residuals, it’s still just the script. Once it’s written, find a producer (publisher), generate publicity (do the PR), hire actors (the author and booksellers), rent a theater (signing venues and conferences), follow up (manage social media). A book is just part of a production.

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The Plant Messiah: A thriller

Books downbeat and upbeat…

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Natalia: There are lots of detective books, mystery books, suspense thrillers.

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Katerina: Yeah, I’m reading two at the moment. But they’re somewhat noir, a bit on the dark side. You know, deaths in the dark of night, detectives who are stressed and shout and eat unhealthily.

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Natalia: Dealing with life’s problems by chasing them full tilt? I prefer writers like McCall Smith. He writes detective stories: The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series. Dignified characters waltzing around problems, being witty and philosophical about them.

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Katerina: You can’t escape the importance of suspense in a book.

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Aquatic horticultural suspense

Natalia: It can be done even with an elevated subject. Read a book recently about a hunt for a rare water lily. Hero was a botanist. It went into his childhood in Spain. Got a job at Kew. The hunt took him around the world. Suspenseful as an action thriller.

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Katerina: I see some good in valuing plants above human mischief and misdemeanors I guess.

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Voice-over

The Plant Messiah. Carlos Magdalena. As exciting as a spy novel. Learn some science. True, too.

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Violet Sephotho as a political analogy?

Or was it an accidental analogy?

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Aisha: Number 17 in the series…

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Zahara: Of?

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Aisha: I’m talking about the Number One Ladies Detective Agency. The author claims to be non-political, but I can’t help but wonder about the ending of Precious and Grace.

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Zahara: Where Violet Sephotho wins the election by buying votes?

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Aisha: And he writes, “How could Botswana, of all places, choose as Woman of the Year a person as self-seeking as Violet Sephotho? Did people not realize? Were people such poor judges of character as to be unable to see Violet for what she was?”

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Zahara: Yes, but the reply is, “There are many things in this world that are not right.”

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Voice-over

Was it a coincidence that Precious and Grace appeared in September 2016 just before the U.S. elections were being decided? Did Alexander McCall Smith have a notion that the US presidential election would be won by Donald Trump overturning standards of decent behavior? Could he have been alluding to Hillary Clinton as being a self-seeking politician? Was he referring to what goes on in many other places in the world? Or did he intend no allegory at all?

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