Nightly Thoughts

Article 19. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, United Nations
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

I started reading Michael Chabon's Maps And Legends Readings And Writing Along The Borderland. It is a collection of essays. The typeface and the paper is very nice. Something which has bothered me lately is that in the description of the book it is not required to give the typeface which the book is printed in. This is somewhat discouraging. Knowing about nice quality fonts is something which librarians and writers like. It is a detail which I think should be included in any book. The paper also appears to be better quality than normal. I also like to know what kind of paper a book is printed on. I know, I know, I am more fussy about these things than most people, but still it is a good thing to know.

I also checked my sidebar on my blog to see if the links were working correctly. You have to do this sometimes. For unknown reasons pieces of your blog can suddenly stop working. I had to put in a few of my links again to get them to work.

I also added a red widget in my sidebar, Bloggers Unite For Human Rights. I am supposed to write an essay on a topic on human rights. I am not sure whether I will do this. I just liked the widget, plus I rather like the concept of human rights. I am rather funny that way. I am a member of the Intellectural Freedom Roundtable of the American Library Association. I am also a member of the The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. In other words, I am a defender of the written word. I do strongly believe in the right for people to express themselves like I am expressing myself now.

I am writing free form at this moment. There are too many libraries that are destroyed in senseless conflicts whether they be budgetary conflicts or the conflicts of war. With the recession in the United States many libraries are only open limited hours because people think of them as being a non-essential service, unlike services like the fire and police department. I think it is essential to preserve reading and visual literacy.

One of the first things to go in conflicts especially ethnic conflicts are libraries. Cultural identity is preserved in the libraries and museums of a country. In Iraq, libraries were looted and burned during the conflict. In Bangladesh libraries were looted and burned during ethnic conflicts. When a dictatorship moves freshly into a country, the first places that gets closed are the libraries and universities.

Tolerance for intellectual freedom is a sign of an open democracy. There were periods in the United States where people were not so tolerant. During the 1950s they had a brief craze where people burned comic books. You could watch batman go up in smoke for being homoerotic, or superman go up in smoke because he was fascistic.

Anyways, to make it short, I support the idea of intellectual freedom everywhere. I want people to have different opinions than my own. This is a cornerstone of freedom. I hope you take a moment to ponder this. Not everyone can think as they want to, or express themselves as they want to.

In many countries were I born there and expressing my feelings openly on intellectual matters, I would be sent to places for people like me. I might work in a prison making shirts, or be out in the fields learning how to be a proper farmer not an intellectual. I would bide my time reciting poetry or stories in my mind surrounded by long hours of boredom punctuated by careful watching of my captors.

I hope one day people will wake up enough to let artists be artists and let culture and free expression be the norm all over the world.

Matter-- Iain Banks-- Comments

Matter by Iain Banks is a science fiction novel set in the far future of the Culture Universe. It is a tome of a book, 593 pages long. The writing is easy to read and flows very nicely. I especially like the setting. It is on a "shellworld". The shellworld is a giant constructed world consisting of multiple layers of shells of an unidentifiable super material. Linking the shells are huge towers that have stood for millions of years. No one knows what exactly is at the center of the worlds. Some of the natives consider it their "worldgod."

The initial start of the book is a story of intrigue and murder. Ferbin, a prince of Hausk witnesses the murder of his father, the king of Hausk by his closest advisor. Ferbin must flee for his life with the help of his servant Holse. Ferbin sees his only hope in seeking the help of his sister, Djan Seriy Anaplin, an agent of Special Circumstances of the Culture, a galaxy spanning, decadent advanced culture.

We get to learn this small incident is part of larger happenings in the galaxy as the story unfolds. Ferbin must make the grand tour, first travelling through the many levels of his homeworld, and finally to the stars. We get to experience many different types of aliens; cumuloforms (cloud beings), insectile beings, octs, intelligent parasites, and various humanoids. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Ferbin and Holse are travelling inside the cumuloform drifting on the winds. The imagery is wonderful.

Ferbins shell level, is backward, what we might call early twentieth century. The closer to the outside of the shell, the more advanced technology becomes. He learns that he is part of a much larger pastime of the larger galactic cultures around him, a game of "diplomatic noninterference." There are many players in this game, the Culture, the Morthanveld, the Oct, and others. This is a metaphor for the "great game" which allows for adventuresome individuals to change things.

He finds his sister, or his sister finds him, after Ferbin's wanderings seeking for help. The action heats up at this point. We get a two part story. We are introduced to the other prince, Oramen who thinks Ferbin has died. There is a war going on for control of the level which Ferbin lives on. This war leads to a potential tragedy. Ferbin and his sister Djan Seriy Anaplin travel home, interacting with the various strange and decadent beings in the galaxy.

There are some things about this book which some people will not like. There is an incredible plethora of ideas in the book. Possibly, too many ideas for some people. This may make some people unhappy with the book. I rather liked it. It is very much a "grand scheme" type of book which stretches the imagination.

Also, some people might consider it rushed. I think it moves along at a very fast pace. Things can happen almost too quickly to understand. I don't mind this. Other people will. It is also very long. There are points where the book could have been shortened considerably. Because, this book is very much in the style of a grand scheme book I don't think it could be shortened without losing some of its flavor. There is something of Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men in this book in the styling of the book.

I almost think he was writing a somewhat literary style of science fiction, not so much for a general audience, but for editors and connoisseurs. Publishers Weekly gave it a Starred Review. This is not always a good thing. Starred Reviews can indicate that a book is exclusive or has a very literary style.

The book ends with a bang. I rather like it when heros sacrifice themselves. The book is quite satisfying and fun to read. It will not be for everyone. I would recommend it for people who like interesting aliens, space opera, and intrigue. The book has been on the Locus Magazine bestseller list for a few weeks. It just came out in February 2008.