Book 24 - David Aaronovitch "Voodoo Histories"

David Aaronovitch "Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History"  (Vintage)





An intelligent, well-researched book about conspiracies, their origins, what they mean, and why they matter. Aaranovich covers both the biggies (JFK, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) and a few I'd never even heard of (the strange death of Marilyn Monroe, and the murder of Hilda Murrell). He knows his material well, having a firm grasp on the various rhetorical gambits and logical fallacies that seem to reappear in almost every conspiracy theory. Presenting himself as a sincere advocate for rational, independent thought, he manages to keep his head about himself as he patiently reviews the available evidence about him without getting upset at these rather ridiculous theories' very existence. And some of these theories are truly ridiculous; there's plenty here for anyone who's spent an afternoon surfing bizarre conspiracy Web sites just to laugh at them. The author's research also takes him to some genuinely interesting and unexpected places, a shadowy world of ideologically motivated fraudsters and kooks that might as well be respectable history's seedy underbelly.

If I've got a complaint about "Voodoo Histories," it's about its sequencing. While Aaranovich writes elegantly and includes bits of cogent analysis throughout this book, it isn't until its conclusion that he begins to elucidate why so many people find conspiracy theories so attractive. While much of his analysis is spot-on, it probably should have come earlier. Without this context, some readers might mistake "Voodoo Histories" for a useful but insufficiently incisive recounting of and rebuttal to some annoying persistent popular historical myths. It isn't until the final chapter of this book that Aaranovich goes in for the kill: those who treat conspiracies as quirky "counternarratives" to official histories ignore the harm they do. The myths of the Third Reich, to use the most famous example, drew heavily from conspiracy theories and conspiracist logic. Although Aaranovich concedes that it's sometimes difficult to see the world with clear, reasonable eyes, he argues that the price of refusing to do so, of succumbing to sloppy, emotionally reassuring popular narratives, is just too high. I tend to think that after finishing "Voodoo Histories," many of his readers will be inclined to agree with him.

Book 25 - Herbert Read "The Meaning Of Art"

Herbert Read "The Meaning Of Art" (Faber & Faber)




First published in 1931, revised in 1949 and reprinted by Penguin as a "Pelican" blue paperback reference for many years. Our copy has 64 black and white photographic plates. Sir Herbert Read was a distinguished English professor of Fine Arts in many university posts, a former curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a published poet as well. In this book, he wrote a useful guide to the understanding and "appreciation of pictures and sculpture by defining the elements which go to their making". He presents "fundamental terms such as 'beauty', 'harmony' and 'pattern'" so viewers and critics of art may "use them with precision in their judgements".

"A large part of the book is devoted to a compact survey of the world's art, from primitive cave drawings to Jackson Pollock; an exposition designed to show the persistence of certain principles and aspirations throughout the history of art." Read summarizes "the essence of such movements as Gothic, Baroque, Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Tachism." - from the Penguin jacket notes

While a little dated, this book is a classic for university students of art and art history, and it's a good starting point for non-artists who wish to learn about this field from an expert.
Many other art history books are more lavishly illustrated and readable, but this is still an excellent academic introduction.

Book 26 - Charles Mingus "Beneath The Underdog"

Charles Mingus "Beneath The Underdog" (Canongate)




I loved this book. I read a lot of jazz biographies, and I have a deep interest in jazz.

Mingus's voice is as clear as the voice of his muse, who takes turns narrating the story and interviewing the musician. Fifty years of the backdrop to the jazz scenes of New York, California, and the South - the way it was for a half-black half-mad genius.

If there's a downside, there isn't much about jazz. Great musicians wander through the tale, but the tunes, gigs, and venues are incidental to the girls and the troubles of a crazy pimp and artist trying to make his way through an impossible life. Occasionally the number of albums he's recorded comes up in conversation, but not a single session is mentioned. If you want more of that, read a biography - you might also find out how true the stories are of drugs, prostitution, crime, bigotry, religion, and insanity- I don't care, it's his reality and they are his stories and I loved them.