Book 2 - The Periodic Table

Primo Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist that lived through the Holocaust. This is a collection of short stories, mostly autobiographical, that each have some relationship to a different chemical element. The stories mostly involve interaction with that element, but ultimately ties in motifs that relate to that specific element. For example, in the chapter named Iron, Levi talks about strong personal bonds, connecting your soul with the earth, and developing a strong mind and body. 

The stories are set up in chronological order, starting from his early life in Piedmont, how he became a chemist, life before the war, a single story on his experience in the concentration camp (he has a separate book dedicated to that topic), and dealing with life after the war. There are a couple fictional stories, Lead and Mercury, in the middle that I think were my favorite, probably because of all the fiction I have been reading lately. There are also a few stories that deal with life as a working chemist. Most other books I've read about chemistry deal with the science and maybe extreme personal strife of the man or woman behind the chemistry. Rarely do you read about the everyday struggles and little victories for an individual either learning or plying their chemistry trade. Levi explains it thusly:

"... but that in this book I would deliberately neglect the grand chemistry, the triumphant chemistry of colossal plants and dizzying output, because this is collective work and therefore anonymous. I was more interested in the stories of the solitary chemistry, unarmed and on foot, at the measure of man, which with few exceptions has been mine: but it has also been the chemistry of the founders, who did not work in teams but alone, surrounded by the indifference of the time, generally without profit, and who confronted matter without aids, with their brains and hands, reason and imagination."

I found it hard to read the prose quickly or in long sessions. The writing is beautiful and not altogether difficult to digest. The stories are rewarding in the end, taking you into a spirit of humanity that no longer seems to exist, at least to someone with my limited experience (maybe if I lived a life less hidden sheltered from the atrocities humankind is capable of, I would not be describing in such a way). However, at only 250 pages in paperback, this book felt longer than any of the later Harry Potter books. I finished the Cixin Liu book early and started this right away, thinking that I would get onto a 52 book pace. I was ultimately knocked down from my lofty thoughts and had to push it just to finish this one by my designated Friday, taking almost 3 weeks to complete it.

I've also fallen behind in my reviews. I did have a lot of commentary on this book, but I'm now two books past it and those thoughts have faded. Maybe this will drive home the notion of prompt review postings. I hope so. I'm looking at it as an essential part of this process, but my actions don't match up.

Book 1 - Dark Forest

I finished 2015 by reading a couple sci-fi books back to back. The second one was the first part of a trilogy by Chinese author Cixin Liu, translated to Remembrance of Earth’s Past. I liked the first book (The Three-Body Problem) okay, but wouldn't say it was spectacular. This one, though, was glorious. I've put a quick spoiler-rich review below. I finished this one a bit early and should continue at this place to build up a good buffer, but I sense a slow-down with this next book. We shall see.

Society is doomed. How do we handle it? Mostly badly.

**Spoilers**

The end of the first book leaves Earth in despair. It has been learned and publicized that a fleet of warships from our neighboring star system are on their way towards us. Accelerating to 10% of the speed of light followed by a long deceleration to match the speed of our sun, Earth and the other planets will take the alien invaders over 400 years. Given our increasing rate of scientific discoveries, we should be able to match and exceed their technology before they reach us. However, our enemy has created a technology that can completely obstruct any attempt to remove the shroud between our current knowledge and the secrets of the universe that exist below the atomic level. Without this knowledge, our technology is destined for an impassable roadblock.

In this book, society becomes split. Some think we can blow by this roadblock (we can't). Others believe it is impossible and we are doomed. More think a representative part of society should flee earth in search of other habitable locations (and that they should be part of it of course). This last idea is soon outlawed and deemed unfit for any plan for salvation. The strategy adopted for the first 20 years or so, is to keep working the problem in somewhat blinded hope.

The book deals mainly in discussing, through the various characters, how we should respond to the knowledge of our own demise. Superficially, we all know that humanity will eventually die out. It could be in 100 years due to nuclear weapons or biological warfare, or in 200 years after dealing with a runaway greenhouse effect brought on by global warming, or in 1,000 years by an uncharted comet impacting our planet, or in 1,000,000,000 years when the sun gets hot enough to boil off our oceans. Why do react differently when we know the exact date? Especially when that date is 17 generations away. We have kicked every other problem our species faces down the road, why would this one change our behavior? I have strawberries right now, why should I care about the honey bee becoming extinct?

Stories in the present, near future and 200 years down the road are all superb. An excellent study of human nature, some cool scientific ideas, and a great ending.

There's always a bigger fish.